"REAL MUSiC EXPRESSES fEELiNGS AND iNVOkES THOUGHT. MUSiC iS UNiVERSALLY UNDERStOOD WiTHOUT LANGUAGE; it WAS BELOW AND BEfORE SPEECH; AND MUSiC iS ABOVE AND BEYOND ALL WORDS".
Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon. Known to millions of fans worldwide for his record-breaking albums, groundbreaking music videos, mesmerizing dance moves and humanitarian efforts, his true story has never really been told…until now. This unprecedented look into the King of Pop’s fascinating life includes all-new interviews with his mother Katherine Jackson as well as siblings Tito and Rebbie Jackson, family, friends and music legends such as Smokey Robinson, Dionne Warwick and many more.
FULL MOVIE: CLiCk ON tHE BLUE LiNk (above the screen below)
Tupac Uncensored and Uncut: The Lost Prison Tapes: As Tupac's interviewer announces, 'Tupac, this interview is not about your trial, or your court appeals it is about Tupac, the inner man, then, and now.' Featuring the uncut and never-before-seen full interview at the Clinton Correctional Facility. Tupac Uncensored and Uncut: The Lost Prison Tapes presents a raw look into Tupac's frame of mind and thinking, as the rapper riffs on topics ranging from his involvement with gang life to prisons in America to his relationship with his mother. What emerges is a moving self-portrait of an artist who sees himself as fundamentally misunderstood: He may have diagnosed thug life, but he didn't invent it, and he is determined to uplift not destroy the black community.
MINNEAPOLIS - Celebrating the one year anniversary of surviving his near-fatal heart attack, Bobby Z, drummer for Prince & The Revolution, will have a rare reunion performance to benefit heart-health awareness.
The Revolution - Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman, Brown Mark, Dr. Fink and Bobby Z - have not played together since 2003 for Sheila E's Family Jamm.
"Benefit 2 Celebrate Life!" will be presented by Bobby Z and the American Heart Association. It will feature The Revolution, along with heart-health and life-saving information and inspiring stories of survival.
The benefit concert will be at the Legendary First Avenue Main Room on Sunday, February 19 at 8 p.m.
Bobby Z was in critical condition after three blocked arteries caused a heart attack in February of 2011. Doctors were able to open his blockages with three stents which has allowed Z to make a full recovery.
“Life is completely different now,” Z said. “Every moment has a new appreciation. I am still overwhelmed by all the thoughts and prayers I received from all over the world. This concert is for the fans. I am so honored and thrilled that The Revolution will join me in this celebration of my recovery. This will be an intimate show with music and stories.”
Wendy and Lisa added, “Our hearts were broken when we heard that our dear friend, and bandmate Bobby Z had had a heart attack. He was the heart, the pulse, the beat of our band. We can't wait to share the stage as one again, and help others in a fight against broken hearts caused by heart disease. The beat goes on!”
“I want to personally thank Prince for his emotional support for me and my family during a very difficult time. That has meant a lot to me,” added Z.
The Revolution is a rock, funk, and new-wave band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1979 by Prince. The Revolution rose to international fame in the mid 1980s with Purple Rain, the album sold more than 16 million copies in the United States alone. The band was one of the most successful music acts of the 1980s. The band achieved two number-one Billboard 200 albums (Purple Rain and Around the World in a Day), six top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and won three Grammy Awards. The band officially disbanded in 1986 at the end of the Parade tour.
Wendy And Lisa - Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman are an Emmy® Award winning musical composing duo based in Los Angeles. They both started their careers in one of the most successful rock bands of the 80s, Prince & The Revolution. They continued to work as a duo and released five original albums as well as pursuing a career path in scoring feature films and television.
BrownMark - Mark Brown (BrownMark) spent most of his life in Minneapolis, Minnesota where, in the 80’s, the Minneapolis music scene took America by storm with its unique blend of Rock and R&B. BrownMark grew up with musicians such as Prince, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Morris Day and Alexander O’Neil who laid the foundation for his advancements in his production skills and musical theory.
Dr. Fink- From Berlin dance floors to British airwaves to Grammy Award winning stages in the States, Matt "Dr." Fink's signature sound occupies an irresistible place in music history. Cunningly clad in surgical scrubs as Prince's award-winning keyboardist in The Revolution, this player-turned-producer modestly shrugs when asked if aware of the impact his music has had on the artists and producers of today.
Bobby Z- Robert B. Rivkin, better known by the stage name Bobby Z., is an American musician and record producer, most known as being a member of Prince's band from 1978–1986, and as a member of The Revolution.
U.S. President Barack Obama treated the crowd at the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem, USA to a few bars of Al Green‘s“Let’s Stay Together.” In addition to being a good father, a great orator, a scourge of terrorists and pirates, a decent ball-player, and a fly-swatting kung fu master, Mr. President can actually sing a little sumthin' sumthin'.
He has cool, charm, intelligence, a sense of humour and he has my unofficial Canadian vote for a second term.
It’s taken generations of hip-hop from America to influence a place like Amsterdam, where the culture was once non-existent. Now that rap has built an unsinkable bridge to Europe, MC Melodee is doing history justice, walking the path of New Amsterdam’s music trailblazers like MC Lyte and Eric B. & Rakim.
Carrying that torch is no easy task for a foreigner decades removed from 1980s New York but Melodee can take the weight because she doesn’t hold on to the fashion standards (i.e. gold rope chain, asymmetrical haircut, etc.) that would be synonymous with 1989 – when MC Lyte made the original version of "CHA CHA CHA.” Instead she’s naturally gifted with Lyte’s raspy tone, a dead ringer for the sample of “2 Young 4 What” on the chorus. If she was from NY, she’d probably sound exactly the same and would have worked at Fat Beats NY (she has their Amsterdam outpost on her resumé). All speculation aside, though, Melodee is comfortable in her homeland. Watching her lamp next to the Amsterdam Canal in this video (shot entirely on an iPhone4) is about as luxurious as big pimpin’ gets.
Since 2010, Melodee has established herself as a voice for Amsterdam, performing at SXSW and around the globe from Africa to Japan. She’s not alone in her international arrival either. Melodee is joined by DJ/producer, I.N.T., and Spanish beatsmiths, Cookin’ Soul. I.N.T., who’s been down with Melodee creating the sound for their group La Melodia, shows her range as a singer on “Give It Up.” But it’s Cookin’ Soul that brings her full circle with her hip-hop roots in the States.“Check Out My Melody” by Eric B. & Rakim follows her blueprint for golden era hip-hop. Cookin’ Soul setup a jacking-for-beats scenario that calls for Melodee’s best performance over a rework of MC Shan‘s“The Bridge” followed by the seductive sample of Dennis Edwards‘“Don’t Look Any Further.”
MC Melodee’s nostalgia for hip-hop’s golden years is a beautiful thing. As fun and exciting as it was, is still fresh in her youthful demeanor - she smiles, and is confident in paying homage to hip-hop pioneers. Watch her grow like a plant and soon bear fruit for Dutchmen (and women) of Amsterdam’s future.
Grey Goose Presents: Rising Icons Featuring Miguel
Inside the artistic mind and the creative process.
In spite of the incredible debut Miguel’s made over the last year and a half, the singer has already had ups and downs in his career (being passed over for a Grammy recognition for instance, much to his chagrin) and still has plenty of room to grow. Which makes him sort of an ideal subject for this Grey Goose Rising Icons featurette, allowing us to watch him find himself as a maturing artist right in front of our eyes.
The three-part film (below) documents Miguel's creative process on the sessions for his sophomore LP (due later this year) from songwriting to engineering his own vocals, along with some doses of performance, band rehearsals, interviews and strategy sessions with industry legend Mark Pitts.
Lenny Kravitz's ninth studio album, Black and White America, is centered strongly around the concept of integration. Taking musical cues from his own life experience, while looking forward, Black and White America seamlessly pulls together a wide range of musical and cultural influences, both urban and rural.
Expanding on the concept of blending and unifying, Lenny Kravitz has released the album as a DJ mixtape, presenting the tracks in a new sequence with skillfully crafted mixing and exclusive re-edits. To achieve this unique presentation, Kravitz enlisted Peace Bisquit's roster of talent, who collectively have remixed and DJ'ed for the likes of Beyonce, Radiohead, Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey and many others.
The mixtape is a reworked presentation of its tracks mixed and sprinkled with some exclusive re-edits. The work’s storytelling is strongly focused on racial integration and sonically melds together both throwback and future sounds. Stream and download the mixtape for free below!
Today we give Martin Luther King a Happy Birthday!
Celebrate MLK Day with a freeBlack And White America Mixtape
A Lenny Kravitz mixtape?! (Cool!)
Side 1:
Come On Get It
Everything (RedTop Re-edit)
Stand (Count De Money Re-edit)
In The Black
Rock Star City Life (RedTop Re-edit)
Sunflower featuring Drake (RedTop and Tony Sap Re-edit)
Side 2:
Superlove (RedTop Re-edit)
Life Ain't Ever Been Better Than It Is Now (Angelo Pepe Skordos Re-Edit)
Boongie Drop featuring Jay Z and DJ Military (RedTop Re-edit)
Liquid Jesus
I Can't Be Without You (Craig C. Re-edit)
Black & White America
Looking Back On Love
Produced, Written, Arranged, Composed and Performed by Lenny Kravitz.
Mixtape compiled by Bill Coleman for Peace Bisquit.
Mixtape coordinated and engineered by Jamie Brundage, Angelo "Pepe" Skordos and Bill Coleman for Peace Bisquit.
"Black and White America" full-length album available now from Atlantic/Roadrunner
Leonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, actor and arranger, whose “retro” style incorporates elements of rock, soul, R&B, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk and ballads. In addition to singing lead and backing vocals, Kravitz often plays all the guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and percussion himself when recording. He is known for his elaborate stage performances and music videos.
Baptism is the seventh studio album by American rock musician Lenny Kravitz.
Released on May 17, 2004, by Virgin Records America.
Production History
Lenny Kravitz originally intended this album to be a 1970s style funk album, simply titled The Funk Album. However, at the point of near completion of the record, he changed his mind when he picked up an acoustic guitar to write the songs for the album. Having stated that songs started pouring out of him, Kravitz decided that his special project could wait. Instead, Kravitz recorded a more straight-forward rock album similar to his 1989 album Let Love Rule. The album was recorded at Hotel Edison studios in Miami, Florida and also features a contribution from rapper Jay-Z on the song "Storm". "Storm" was originally titled "(I Can't Make It) Another Day" and was originally recorded with superstar Michael Jackson. Kravitz had previously played guitar on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint: The Gift & the Curse. Kravitz had mentioned in an interview that at the time of the album's production, he was in dispute with his record label, who did not agree with his decisions to alter his project, saying that the album featured some darker material representing his stage of depression and other problems he was going through at that time.
The Police are an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting (lead vocals, bass), Andy Summers (guitars) and Stewart Copeland (drums). The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and are generally regarded as one of the first New Wave groups to achieve mainstream success, playing a style of rock that was influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz. Their 1983 album, Synchronicity, was number one on both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200, and sold over 8,000,000 copies in the US. The group disbanded in 1986, but reunited in early 2007 for a one-off world tour lasting until August 2008. The Police have sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, and were the world's highest-earning musicians in 2008, thanks to their reunion tour.
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan (lead vocals), Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, vocals, chief songwriter after 1981), Andy Fletcher (keyboards) and Vince Clarke (keyboards, chief songwriter 1980–81). Vince Clarke left the band after the release of their 1981 debut album, Speak & Spell, and was replaced by Alan Wilder (keyboards, drums) with Gore taking over songwriting.
Alan Wilder left the band in 1995 and since then Gahan, Gore, and Fletcher have continued as a trio. Depeche Mode have had 48 songs in the UK Singles Chart and twelve top 10 albums in the UK charts, two of which debuted at #1. According to EMI, Depeche Mode have sold over 100 million albums and singles worldwide, making them the most successful electronic band in music history. Q magazine calls Depeche Mode "The most popular electronic band the world has ever known".
Jay-Z "Glory", which is an ode to his newly born baby girl Blue Ivy Carter was released earlier today and the sentimental joint even features his new babygirl, making her one of, if not the youngest artist to be featured on a track. With that said, Jay's opus to his daughter brings up memories of Stevie Wonder's classic to his then babygirl with "Isn't She Lovely."
Listen below to a beautifully crafted dedication to Blue Ivy Carter and Enjoy!
