New Music Tuesday

Ok, we're a day behind, it was a holiday.



R. Kelly - Double Up - R. Kelly's 85th album or something like that cements that he still gots it. You can't deny it, he's one of the best to ever do it, no matter how many young girls he pees on. Stand out tracks are "Rock Star," "Get Dirty" and "Double Up." Songs that fall into "Jesus, I can't believe this dude still gets away with this shit" category are "The Zoo" and "Real Talk." Almost every album of his is worth getting and this one is no exception.

Meet Sean Kingston

Get to know this guy, he's gonna be big time real quick. 17 years old, rolls with JR Rotem, this kid puts some serious records together for someone who's not even legal yet. "Beautiful Girl" is going to be the joint for the summer and flips Fab's "Make Me Better" crazy. He's about to Akon / T-Pain the game. myspace.com/seankingston

Soundscan Top 5

1. Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Long - 429k
2. Linkin Park - Minutes To Midnight - 197k
3. Ozzy Osbourne - Black Rain - 151k
4. Young Jeezy & USDA - The Mixtape - 95k
5. Used - Lies For The Liars - 92k

No surprise here, Maroon 5 runnin shit, LP taking a big dip. Ozzy still got that swag and an impressive debut for USDA.

Ya'll Can't Tell Me Nothin

Yeezy rockin that big ass Sunday mass scarf that my grandma has.

Joints To Bump For The Weekend

Let's do 2 for the long weekend:



Fab f/ Jay Z & Uncle Murda - Brooklyn




Swizz / Fab / Cassidy - Big Things Poppin Freestyle

Big ups to nahright.

Top 7 Albums Hip Hop Needs in '07

1. Beanie Mack - The last couple of street joints reminded me how good this guy really is. He's back with the Roc, though I'm not sure if he'll be getting any Kanye or Neptune beats on this go around.

2. The Lox - If produced right, one of the best hip collectives ever will jump right in where they left off.

3. DJ Drama - As long as the formula stays the same for the major release, we'll be good.

4. Joell Ortiz - The Koch release is slept on, but it's just prep work for what Dre is about to do with this guy.

5. Saigon - This generation's Nas needs to come out. Seriously.

6. Joe Budden - Hip hop's moody dude stays sprinkling the streets with bangas and is able to keep his name up even if there's no major release in sight.

7. Uncle Murda - This guy will bring that fun gun play rap back to the streets.

Who Buys CDs Anymore?

Well, there are people that still do, over 600k of Linkin Park's fans haven't grown past them and that's both a great look and suprising. What's even more surprising is that a record 80,000 digital albums were sold. That is pretty fuckin significant. I was wondering what the advantage was of having a pre-order for an album set up over 2 months in front of a project, like for TI and 50 (felt very long), but it seems the psychology behind buying records may be on the upside for actual digital albums (shit...I hope so). On some weeks, 80,000 can give you a #1 record, and the fact that this was moved on digital albums alone shows that there may be some hope yet.

Soundscan Top 5

1. Linkin Park - Minutes To Midnight - 622k
2. Tank - Sex, Love & Pain - 103k
3. Michael Buble - Call Me Irresponsible - 87k
4. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky - 87k
5. Gretchen Wilson - One Of The Boys - 73k

Linkin Park take the big honors this week, they apparently still got it with the biggest first week release this year. They also got a bunch of #1's across the world. Tank in at #2, I had no idea he had a record out. Buble in at #3, somewhat of a new Sinatra right? I wonder how many Oprah fans bought the record? People still buying Wilco records. Gretchen Wilson comin in at #5 with 73k, disappointing for Country music, no?

Got Yourself A Gun

Was figuring out how to get a Sopranos post up without it coming left field....here you have it. The official Sopranos book for the coffee table, bookshelf, conversation piece, whatever. One of the best shows ever, now on paper.

New Music Tuesday

Maroon 5 - "It Won't Be Soon Before Long" - In short, definitely not as good as the first, but good enough to play while you are cleaning the apartment on a Saturday morning (or Sunday Morning).



Young Jeezy presents USDA - "Cold Summer" - If Jeezy put Boyz N Da Hood together himself, these guys would be in it. Definite mixtape feel. Not bad, not great. This makes me want another Jeezy mixtape out there.



Cold War Kids - "Live At The Paradiso EP" - 3 live tracks from a show in Amsterdam (nice). Rock dudes with that bluesy "I don't give 2 shits" sound. I like it. Check for the album too.

Who Cares?

This band is a wrap anyway. 1 hot album every 5 year average, and thats so laaaaame.

Amy Lee spoke candidly about her recent marriage and the recent departure of two of the members of Evanescence in a post on the band's message board over the weekend. Calling marriage "the most incredible thing to happen in my life so far," Lee explained that she returned from her honeymoon and "discovered the fact that I was unable to defend myself for a week [and] was taken advantage of quite a bit." Lee said guitarist John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray, who left the lineup earlier this month and were recently replaced by Dark New Day's Will Hunt and Troy McLawhorn, "both made it clear they were ready to move on." LeCompt and Gray "were very vocal about the fact that they didn't really care about Evanescence at all and just stayed around for the money," the post continued. "They were miserable. They are no longer playing with us because I love this band too much to see it driven into the ground." Lee also said that Gray didn't quit, as he's claimed; she contends he was fired, after weeks of threatening to quit. ....... mtv.com

Update: DJ Treats from Lvn Proof says... "who the fuck likes this shit?... that chicks voice is so annoying, i rather hear a full album from LaLa from mtv or like rocsi chopped and screwed than listen to evanesence"

Lose Myself

I was suspect of how a new Lauryn Hill song would sound, it's a little 3000 like, takes a minute to get used to, but I ain't mad at it. Enjoy.

Bullet Bullet

Nice and hood.

Joint To Bump For The Weekend

Let's try to do this every Friday. And now, it's time for the remix. Ich Ni San Chi.

Grafh Talks Bidness

They Tried To Make Me Go To Rehab

but I said no no no...

Big Things Poppin

Little Things Stoppin

Top 5 Dead Or Alive...

Here are the Top 5 releases that are going to be poppin for the second half of the year:



1. Lil' Wayne - who's not waiting for this album, best rapper alive, his time is now.

2. Usher - you know it, I know it, he's gonna sell a shitload of rekkids.

3. T. I. - the King's back, no other rap album will sound better.

4. Kanye - it's like pizza, even if it's bad, it's still pretty good.

5. Paramore - my rock group for the year.

Top 5 that dropped in the first half (roughly):



1. Robin Thicke - best r&b album of the last 3 years.

2. Amy Winehouse - best thing out of London since London Fog jackets (remember those?)

3. Gym Class Heroes - this was actually dropped last year, but people (such as myself) just started figuring it out this year, these guys are much more than a hit single.

4. Lil' Wayne (Da Drought Mixtape) - you know what, not many good albums out there and most this shit was dope, so, there you have it.

5. Lloyd - great first 2 singles, not a bad r&b album.

Cocaine...

...back up in a big way.

What A Maroon

Album on The Leak. Listen to it. I haven't decided if it's hot shit or a hot mess.

Yeezy and Weezy

"I'm making beats. The dude is the hottest rapper," 'Ye said. "We already made some songs that are incredible. I'm not going to tell you who's on them, but I can talk my sh--, 'cause we already got a couple of bangers under the belt. Hopefully I can deliver some product with him to push it to MTV even more, where hopefully he'll be opening up some award shows and getting his rightful spot. Right now he's ripping down every mixtape, going crazy with it. It's unabashed, raw lyrics. I think it's the realest form of hip-hop right now." - mtv.com

When it's reppin time, they get on extra grind.

Not A Bad Year For Danja

The producer of the moment (ok, year) got honored for his contributions to bringing sexy back, saving the career of a Portuguese Canadian, and reviving the career of one of the illest producers ever.

Looks Like Tip Was Performing At This One

Rule 53: Don't be a punk ass beeeiitch and throw shit on stage at a concert like you poppin.

Meet Kevin Michael

Slow news week, so I'm on a new music kick. Kevin Michael is this dude from Philly with a mixed bag of funk, r&b, soul, hip hop slang....all that good shit. Get to know him and his hair. Oh, and you can get his single for free at iTunes now, so cop it. Free music, imagine that.

Meet Keri

Keri Hilson that is. She's been with Timbo's camp for a minute and she's on one of the hottest joints on his album. She's also on Diddy's next single. Danja's droppin the beats, JT is co-writing, sounds like something to look out for. Get to know her.

Killa in the Kufi Category?

This has the internet goin nuts. Is Cam in? Out? What's really good, right? All these burning questions and more as Jim sets the record straight tonight with Flex.

Update: No visit to Flex.....yet.

"...My Metal Shoot Lead Thru Your Mellon Douche Bag..." - Grafh

Something for the weekend. Bump this shit.
(props to eskay)

Ooohhh Kelly Clarkson!!!

Last album was dope, but with the sound of the new single off the upcoming album sounding like hot garbage, I was not surprised to hear about this.

Update: (cause I know you all care) It looks like their sticking to their guns to deliver this one. I still ain't feelin that shit.

Can You Believe...

...that they didn't give him a bigger budget for this video?

It's Kells

This fuckin guy doesn't stop, huh? Just when you think the R-ah is over (cause who thought he'd bounce back from the Jay fallout) or, ok, he has his couple of singles for the year, he has nothing else really, he meets up with Usher and does this.

Back Like Cooked Crack, Yup

Napster founder Shawn Fanning’s Snocap will provide services to the Warner Music Group to sell its artists’ songs through MySpace. In addition, Snocap MyStores will power digital music sales through WMG artists’ own websites, fan blogs and e-mail. The agreement is the first such major label sales deal for S.F.-based Snocap, which also powers digital music stores on MySpace for indie labels including Sub Pop and Dangerbird, and for CD Baby, an online retailer of unsigned artists' CDs. Snocap also maintains a digital registry of 3.3 million songs from artists on major and independent labels.

From hitsdailydouble.com

Man vs. Himself

The oldest conflict known to man has destroyed it's parties more often than not, but it seems the victor in this case is all Harris as TI (and Tip) continue to give us a peek into the event hip hop album of the year. Denzel, Eminem, Jay, 3000, Timberlake....He just might body 2007, and the world is ready for it.

Noe He Didn't

So this is the guy Jim Jones signed from Baltimore. Looks like Sway, sounds like Jay, but god damn that beat is so mean. Listen for yourself.

Special editorial piece:
My Opinion Is The Only Thing That Matters.
by Young Valentino

Stop Him

Just try to...Ronson's been finding an even bigger lane these days (coming off of Allen and Winehouse). He's following up his ahead of the time "Fuzz" record with "Version." "Stop Me" has had the UK on smash for a minute and is ready to pop it off in the US. Preview the record here.