L'attirail

The exceptionally talented Pop artist Jack Wilson has released him CD entitled Easterly Winds. I am very confident and happy to announce that I believe Jack Wilson fans, and Pop fans alike will be pleased with this one. With the release of Easterly Winds Jack Wilson’s artistic excellence is on full display as Wilson has once again delivered a brilliant collection of tracks that could very well be him best work to date.

It’s a rare day indeed that I get a CD from an artist that I can truthfully say does not have a bad track in the bunch. I’m more than happy to announce that’s exactly what I must say about this one. There simply isn’t a bad one in the bunch. No fillers here at all.

Jack Wilson is one of those musicians that has the ability to just win you over with him talent. The kind of artist it’s really a treat to be able to listen to.

Overall Easterly Winds is an outstanding release. What I call must have music. I give it two thumbs up and is most definitely a worthy addition to any Pop collection. Truly an outstanding Pop CD. One of those that is completely void of any wasted time, as each track is simply superb.

While this entire album is outstanding some of my favorites are track 3 – A Time For Love, track 4 – Easterly Winds, and track 6 – Frank’s Tune  Read more...

Rap Haters Love Hip-Hop

By Dahlia Urns

MTV is runnin’ this rap shit, Viacom is runnin’ this rap shit, AOL and Time Warner runnin’ this rap shit

-Mos Def The Rape Over

Hip-hop began its journey as a by-product of struggle answering the call for some revival of awareness within the African American community. Birthed out of the ghetto basements of young Black America its roots embedded in spoken word, poetry, and jazz, hip-hop whispered the truth and screamed its ability to evolve and ultimately last.

Though Hip-Hop originated as a music genre of the people for the people, rap, its counterpart has proven to be a worthy adversary. The industry creation manipulated by executives in boardrooms and dictated by some monetary bottom line has flipped both the Hip Hop community and suburban America on its head. With its far reaching influence and cleverly packaged appeal, rap has made itself very much at home in living rooms the world over. Rap artists with about as much street credibility as Justin Timberlake overcompensate with bullet wounds and well inked physiques. Impressionable generation next-ers follow the trend without question and mimic their platinum sporting idols. Lyrics account for very little when image is everything.

Hip-hop, it would appear, stands in the shadow of the rap machine. In the wake of such a dramatic shift in hip-hop culture, most artists have succumbed to a “bling” ideology, taking what was meant to be lyrical graffiti and disguising it as pop art discarding its original truth for soundbites, samples, and convenient lies.  Read more...

One word describes the CD JE Heartbreak from Jagged Edge… AWESOME!

This one will grab your attention right out of the gate with Heartbreak and doesn’t let go until the very last note of the very last song Lace you, which by the way is another great track.

JE Heartbreak is a pleasantly varied, mix of 12 tracks that are very well written and brilliantly performed songs by these clearly talented musicians. With many of the songs displaying a lot of the kind emotion that makes for a really great listen. Clearly drawing from what I can only imagine are their own personal experiences. At different points touching on the most real emotions of love, heartbreak, pain, failed relationships and unattainable romance. They’re all here.

If you’re a Jagged Edge fan, or just a fan of Pop music this is a CD your collection simply should not be without.

While the entire CD is outstanding some of my favorites are track 4 – What You Tryin’ To Do, track 11 – Keys To The Range, and track 12 – Lace you

My Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 1 – Heartbreak. Great track!

JE Heartbreak Release Notes:

Jagged Edge originally released JE Heartbreak on January 18, 2000 on the So So Def Records label.

CD Track List Follows:  Read more...

Drake – Thank Me Later

Lil’ Wayne’s protégé needs to get this album out ASAP in early 2010 because his buzz has already peaked and it’s slowly fading. A few months ago at the height of his popularity, a new Drake album could have been a rare album to go platinum in a week, but Drake is taking his time crafting his debut record which hopefully pays off on the end. With rumored appearances by The-Dream, Kanye and probably some hot indie-rock stars (‘cause that’s the hip thing for rappers to do nowadays) it should be an interesting listen and is no doubt going to cause much discussion in the rap community

Lupe Fiasco – Lasers

Lupe has been quiet for awhile with only a mixtape popping up recently to bring his name back in response to his lack of appearance on MTV’s Hottest Rappers list, Lupe has a lot to prove, mainly that he can continue to be relevant in today’s rap landscape while not forsaking his challenging, intellectual rhymes. Lupe has made lots of different remarks about retiring after his next record so we’ll see if his ego gets to him or if he can wisely give his fans what they want, more good Lupe music. Don’t expect lots of materialistic rap about leather Mustang seats like these here, but more cerebral stuff that will make you think.

Kanye West – Good Ass Job  Read more...

The word blog is short for “web log.” A blog is basically an online journal that its author uses to publish “posts,” which are separate entries to the journal. Blogs can be used for any reason and subject matter imaginable. From teenagers and activists to politicians and best-selling authors, anyone can easily and inexpensively publish a blog. In many ways, blogs are just another version of a web site with multiple pages. You can visit and read a blog page in the same way you would any other web file format called RSS. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. In general, it is used to publish and organize frequently updated digital content, such as blogs, news feeds and podcasts. The coolest thing about RSS is that it gives people the ability to subscribe to blogs and podcasts.

In essence, an RSS feed allows you to subscribe to a web site, which just happens to be a blog. You can subscribe to blogs using something called a news reader, feed reader or aggregator. Feed readers work in a similar way. Open it up, and all of the blogs you’ve subscribed to will show up, with the latest content at the top, usually with just the headline and maybe the first few lines of the blog post displaying. It’s a pretty awesome way to have only the information you want delivered to your desktop.  Read more...