February 15, 2012

Behind The Music Returns On March 15 With Episodes Featuring Pitbull, T-Pain, Brandy And More


Behind The Music has long been one of VH1′s flagship series and we’re excited to announce that the show is set to return for another season on March 15. This season will feature several of rap and hip/hop’s most influential artists in recent years, including Brandy, Nas, Pitbull, Game, T-Pain and Akon. For more information about the new season of Behind The Music, we’ve got the press release below with all the air dates and times.

VH1 GOES BEHIND THE MUSIC WITH SIX NEW EPISODES

Featured Artists Include: Pitbull, Game, T-Pain, Akon, Brandy and Nas
Premiering Thursday, March 15, 2012 at 9pm ET/PT

Catch All Behind The Music Episodes On VH1.com
The Morning After Each On-Air Premiere


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Tags: , Behind The Music, The Game, Pitbull, Brandy, T-Pain, Nas, Akon

November 3, 2011

Amy Winehouse’s Collaboration With Nas, “Like Smoke,” Surfaces

The release of Amy Winehouse‘s posthumous album, Amy Winehouse Lioness: Hidden Treasures, is imminent, and now the first single off the record has made its way onto the Internet. The track, “Like Smoke” featuring rapper Nas, is rather haunting, as Amy’s moody vocal pierces the bluesy, gentle music accompanying her. The song takes on an extra poignancy given Amy’s death earlier this year, and as a never before heard track, it resounds as a testament to the sheer might of Amy’s tonal inflections and organic sultry voice, amplifying the tragedy of her demise.

While Amy’s parts were recorded in 2008, it seems that Nas’ rap was only added recently, as he makes references to the current Occupy Wall Street protests. There’s a certain melancholy to Amy’s voice and lyrics, as she sings the hook, “Like smoke, I hung around in the unbalanced.” Listening to “Like Smoke” is giving us chills, and a heavy sense of loss, but we can’t help but wonder if we’d take the same sentiment from the song if it had have been released during Amy’s lifetime. Either way, we’d still love it, even if it wasn’t weighed with Amy’s untimely passing. Now, we can’t wait to hear the rest of the album in the hopes it will be just as beautifully moving as “Like Smoke”.

Listen to “Like Smoke” [Prefix Mag]

[Photo: Getty Images]

Tags: , , Nas, Amy Winehouse

November 1, 2011

Watch These Thrones: The Best Collaboration Albums

As Jay-Z and Kanye West‘s Watch The Throne tour kicks off this week, there’s really not all that much else to talk about. Between set lists, leather outfits, copious bling and “OMG WILL PREGONCÉ OR FRANK OCEAN OR BOTH MAKE AN APPEARANCE?”, it’s a truly immersive experience, permeating all facets of daily life and conversation. So while we wait very impatiently for our turn to Watch The Throne, we’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite collaboration albums of all-time.

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Tags: , , , Jen Wood, The Raconteurs, Alison Mosshart, The Dead Weather, Damian Marley, Broken Bells, Brian Eno, Jack White, Frank Ocean, The Postal Service, David Byrne, Death Cab For Cutie, Danger Mouse, Cee-Lo, Gnarls Barkley, The Shins, White Stripes, Pearl Jam, Neil Young, Nas, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Beyonce

September 18, 2011

VH1′s 40 Most Shocking Hip Hop Moments [COMPLETE LIST]

VH1 debuted the latest countdown in our long-running The Greatest series, the 40 Most Shocking Hip Hop Moments, this evening. If you missed it, don’t worry; it will rerun tomorrow night, Monday, September 19, at midnight. If you’re looking for the complete list, look no further. Here are the 40 Most Shocking Hip Hop Moments … so far!

40) Nicki Minaj gets butt slapped by Regis Philbin
39) Wyclef runs for president of Haiti
38) 50 Cent shockingly thin Twitter pics
37) Lil Wayne goes to prison and gets grillz removed
36) Redman’s shocking Cribs episode [WATCH]
35) Cam’ron’s anti-snitching 60 Minutes interview
34) Dr. Dre’s shocking transformation at VMAs
33) Sir Mix-A-Lot’s raunchy “Put ‘Em on the Glass” video
32) Lil Mama crashes stage during Jay-Z and Alicia Keys VMA performance
31) Suge Knight knocked out

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Tags: , , , The Greatest, Geto Boys, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Warren G, Three 6 Mafia, ODB, P. Diddy, Gucci Mane, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross (Hip-Hop), Tupac, 2 Live Crew, Lil Mama, DMX, Lil Wayne, Flavor Flav, Wyclef Jean, Snoop Dogg, Redman, Notorious B.I.G., Nas, Lauryn Hill, Kanye West, Foxy Brown, Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Common, Cam'ron, 50 Cent

August 29, 2011

When It Waynes, It Pours: Spending The Hurricane With Tha Carter IV

While NYC residents are relieved to have been spared the worst of Hurricane Irene (we’re thinking of you, Vermont), I must admit to shallow disappointment in her pulling a robbery on my social life this weekend. Forced to stay indoors, I was able to spend some time with Lil Wayne’s recently-leaked Tha Carter IV while suffering through meteorologists and weather anchors overusing words like “hunker [down]” and “pounding [wind and rain],” wanting to throw a thesaurus at my television. After closing the MTV VMAs last night, the New Orleans native, who is unfortunately all too familiar with hurricanes, officially dropped his ninth solo album digitally before running off to host an after-party that coincided with Tha Carter IV’s release.

Because it’s dropping in such close proximity to Jay-Z and Kanye’s Watch The Throne, Tha Carter IV is a an easy target for direct comparisons. Wayne is a one-man show, and despite having a bushel of features (from the likes of Andre 3000, Nas, Bun B, and Bob Rick Ross), facing off against Jay and Kanye’s well-marketed collaboration LP certainly isn’t apples to apples, but the pot will inevitably be stirred! One of the songs on Tha Carter IV contains a verse directed at Jay-Z and talks about kidnapping newly pregnant Beyoncé, so speculations were high that some sort of altercation would occur at the VMAs last night. Likely retaliation for Hov’s “baby money” verse on “H.A.M.” back in January, Wayne’s verse on the C4 track, entitled “It’s Good” (also featuring Jadakiss and Drake), sounds like it’s just come to term; the passion in Wayne’s voice and use of verbs in the present tense suggest it was recorded many months ago, not recently. That, mixed with the fact that Jay didn’t respond publicly last night, might mean it’s water under the bridge.
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Tags: , Tech N9ne, Bun B, Rick Ross, Cory Gunz, Drake, Jadakiss, Andre 3000, John Legend, Lil Wayne, Nas, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Beyonce

June 14, 2011

Last Lap: Tuesday’s Odds And Ends In Music News

We try to cover all the music stories that matter here on the VH1 Blog. Sometimes, though, we find too many stories to cover, stories that don’t exactly “matter” but are worth sharing, or even just good stuff from our peers. Here’s your Tuesday roundup:

Amazon’s 99-Cent Lady Gaga Deal Hurt Interscope
On Saturday, Ed Christman at Billboard noted on Saturday that while Amazon’s Born This Way price drop certainly helped increase overall sales figures for the album, it also shifted the balance from physical to digital sales to an extent for which Interscope was unprepared. Now, he calculates, 72% of Interscope’s initial shipment of physical copies of Born This Way—over 1.5 million CDs!—are taking up space on the shelves of retailers eager to return excess stock.

Is Britney Spears‘s Tour Underselling?
One of today’s Detroit Groupon Deals is a half-priced ticket to Britney’s July 28th show at The Palace of Auburn Hills. We can’t determine anything definitively from this, but we can presuppose that presales—at least, in Detroit—failed to meet expectations.

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Tags: , , Big Sean, Matthew Morrison, Lady Gaga, Take That, Lil Wayne, Kelly Rowland, Swizz Beatz, Nas, Kanye West, Britney Spears

June 6, 2011

The Top Five Musical Feuds Of The Last 20 Years (Not Involving Moby)

Moby‘s comments last week about what types of pop are and aren’t music isn’t the first time he’s taken shots at other artists. At the 2001 Grammy Awards he called Eminem ”a racist, a homophobe, and a misogynist.” But he’s not the only artist who’s feuded over art (and, implicitly, integrity). Here are the five most notable feuds of the last 20 years.

FEUD: Nirvana vs. Guns N’ Roses
HOW IT STARTED: Nirvana never liked the lyrical misogyny and homophobia of Guns N’ Roses, but the feud officially got underway when Nirvana turned down an offer to open for the band on tour.
KEY NIRVANA PULLQUOTE: Kurt Cobain, interviewed by Kevin Allman in the February 1992 issue of The Advocate:

I can’t even waste my time on that band, because they’re so obviously pathetic and untalented. I used to think that everything in the mainstream pop world was crap, but now that some underground bands have been signed with majors, I take Guns N’ Roses as more of an offense. I have to look into it more: They’re really talentless people, and they write crap music, and they’re the most popular rock band on the earth right now. I can’t believe it.

KEY GUNS ‘N’ ROSES PULLQUOTE: Axl Rose, on stage in Seattle: “Nirvana would rather stay home and shoot drugs with their bitch wives than tour with us.”
WINNER: At the time, Nirvana by a mile, but as time has gone on and Cobain-as-icon has lost some of its political edge, it’s now closer to a draw.
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Tags: , , Pavement, Moby, Lady Gaga, Blur, The Smashing Pumpkins, Oasis, Nirvana, Nas, M.I.A., Jay-Z, Guns N' Roses, Eminem

April 26, 2011

Snap Judgment: The Top 8 Must-See Acts At Lollapalooza

Lollapalooza announced its 2011 festival lineup at midnight last night, with headliners Eminem, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Muse, My Morning Jacket, Deadmau5, A Perfect Circle, Cee Lo Green, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley & Nas, the Cars, and Ween sure to a draw massive crowd to Grant Park in Chicago on August 5-7.

But what of the 88 other bands on the Lollapalooza 2011 lineup? Well, here are your eight best bets, listed alphabetically—and including five You Oughta Know artists: [click to continue…]

Tags: , , , , Danzig, Wye Oak, Patrick Stump, Ween, The Cars, Damian "Junior Gong" Marley, A Perfect Circle, deadmau5, Fitz And The Tantrums, Two Door Cinema Club, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Lissie, Christina Perri, Lykke Li, Cee-Lo, Foo Fighters, My Morning Jacket, Pete Wentz, Nas, Muse, Eminem, Coldplay

July 26, 2010

Watch A 30-Second Sneak Peek Of Estelle’s “Fall In Love”

Back in the summer of 2008, it seemed like you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing Estelle‘s monster smash, “American Boy.” After spending two years on the road and in the studio (not to mention collecting a Grammy along the way, too!), Estelle is back with her new single, “Fall In Love,” and her new album, All Of Me. Even though you’ll have to wait until September 28 to hear her whole album, we’ve got a :30 sneak of the hot new video for you today. We’ll have the whole video premiere ready for you to watch online tomorrow, and also be sure to keep an eye out on the weekly VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown to see how this song — that also features Nas and John Legend! — performs this summer.

Tags: , Nas, John Legend, Estelle, TOP 20 VIDEO COUNTDOWN

April 22, 2008

Nas Controversy Fizzes Up

nas-n-word.jpgThe controversy over Nas‘ forthcoming ablum, Nigger, is growing more intense with news that one of its songs subverts the old Dr. Pepper jingle by replacing the word “Pepper” with the N-word:

“I’m a nigger, he’s a nigger,
she’s a nigger, we’re a nigger
Wouldn’t you like to be a nigger too?”
- From Nas’ “Be A Nigger Too” (Listen here)

Before this latest shocker, a lot had been written about who is in support of Nas’ album title (Jay-Z, Common, Alicia Keys, Don Imus) and who isn’t (NAACP, Jesse Jackson, 50 Cent). 50 Cent, among others, says Nas is going for “shock value.” The fact that rappers have embraced the word and rendered it less hurtful and more banal through overuse for at least two decades may lend some credence to his claim. Maybe this is why Nas’ earlier statement seemed kind of weak:

“I wanna make the word easy on muthaf***ers’ ears. You see how white boys ain’t mad at ‘cracker’ ’cause it don’t have the same [sting] as ‘nigger’? I want ‘nigger’ to have less meaning [than] ‘cracker.’”

But Nas’ new song could pull more people into his corner and back up Jay-Z’s earlier statement: “I know he’s very intelligent and there’s a reason behind what he’s doing.” Pairing a once-omnipresent commercial song that is childlike in its simplicity with one of the most incendiary words in the English language raises so many questions that it could make heads explode. Could Nas be commenting on how big business packages and sells just about anything to kids — from soft drinks to gangsta rap? Could he be attempting to hit back at the very commercialization that has damaged hip-hop as an art form? Could he be doing all of the above and stirring up controversy to sell albums, too?

Nas’ intentions may not yet be totally clear, but we’re all waiting to hear more. — Matt Muro

[Photo: Getty Images]

Tags: , , 50 Cent, A Tribe Called Quest, Common, Jay-Z, Nas, Alicia Keys, Don Imus

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