Two orders of business if you love lists like I love lists: Gayrights.change.org names the Top Five Straight Allies in Congress for 2009. NYU-ers, let’s be happy that Senator Kristen Gillibrand is on the list! You should ALSO check out Out Magazine’s “Out 100” men and women of 2009.
Gays and Lesbians in the Cold on Immigration Reform Bill
TowleRoad reports that “the ‘comprehensive’ immigration reform bill introduced this month does not include gays and lesbians.”
Anti-Gay Marriage Ad Hits D.C. Public Transportation
Stand for Marriage D.C. has placed anti-gay ads on D.C. Metrobuses.
More, after the jump!
Why Do Some Come Out So Late in Life?
PlanetOut explores this issue in light of Meredith Baxter’s recent coming-out Dr. Allen Rix’s forthcoming novel Ex-Gay No Way.
Eminem’s Still Rapping Homophobic Lyrics
Disappointing (if not surprising), given our recent piece about Asher Roth’s fairly progressive comments on sexual orientation.
Economy Crushes Homophobia in Sports Project
Pat Griffin, the director of an initiative to fight homophobia in women’s sports, has been cut from her position due to economic difficulties.
A life of hard partying and hard drugs with her husband may have led to this.Brittany Murphy best known for her role as Eminem’s Girlfriend in 8 mile and for her unique brand of comedy roles such as Clueless was pronounced dead at Cedars Sinai Hospital upon arrival. Her husband Simon Monjack called paramedics and reportedly told them his wife had went into cardiac arrest. In the past Monjack had been involved in several domestic altercations with Murphy, He is also said to have been the one that got his wife hooked on hard drugs such as Heroin,Ectasy and Meth. We here at Heavenhollywood.com send our deepest sympathy out to theMurphy family and friends and we will keep you updated on any latest developments because something stinks here.
Good God. The world’s been dropped. And I will never be the same.
We always hope for these dream collabos between our favorite rappers and we very rarely get them. Lil’ Wayne and Eminem are, without question, the two hottest and most popular MC’s in the rap game right now. There are Jay-Z lovers out there and people will talk about Kanye West, T.I. and even — gulp — 50 Cent. But when it comes to 2009 rap royalty, it doesn’t get bigger or better than Marshall Mathers and Weezy.
So when I saw these two giants of the rap industry — and, more than that even — my favorite artists of all-time were going to team up for Rebirth, I got excited. I was skeptical, but excited. If this actually happened, it could be a moment for the ages.
The song leaked on Tuesday. And I didn’t believe it was going to be the actual song. How could it be? With Rebirth being pushed back more times than I can even remember, how could the biggest song on the CD get leaked two months before the scheduled release? But it did.
And wow, what a song it is.
It’s not an earth-shattering collabo the way Jay-Z and Eminem’s Renegade was. But what I can say is it’s two of the greatest rappers ever working at their absolute best murdering a beat made for both of them. Weezy’s got the chorus and the first two verses and doesn’t hesitate to murder it in the first verse:
I got ice in my veins, blood in my eyes
Hate in my heart, love in my mind
I see nights full of pain, days are the same
You keep the sunshine, save me the rain
I search but never find, hurt but never cry
I work and forever try, but I’m cursed so nevermind
And it’s worse but better times seem further and beyond
The top gets higher the more that I climb
The spot gets smaller and I get bigger
Tryin to get in where I fit in; no room for a nigga
But soon for a nigga it be on ma’fucka
‘Cause all this bullshit made me strong, ma’fucka
So I’mma pick the world and I’mma drop it on your fuckin’ head!
Obviously, the pressure of rhyming with Eminem has made Weezy F. Baby bring his best stuff and his delivery on this song is as good as it gets. He also provides a thumping chorus that fits perfectly with the space-noise beats in the background.
But, as is so often the case in any Eminem collabo, his verse is the one that sticks out and shines. At the beginning of the verse, the production mixes his voice as he sing songs his way through an intriguing first few bars:
It hurts but I’ll never show, this pain you’ll never know
If only you could see just how lonely and how cold
And how frosbit I’ve become, my back’s against the wall
When push come to shove I just stand up and scream fuck ‘em all
After he drops these pulse-pounding lines, he comes back with a classic. No accent, no gimmicks, just straight up the best of the best ripping a dynamite rhymefest:
Man, it feels like these walls are closin’ in, this roof is cavin’ in
Up, it’s time to raise it, then your tazin’ em like pages in my book of rhymes
Got ‘em cookin, boy, this crooked mind of mine got ‘em all shook
And scared to look in my eyes, I stole that fuckin’ clock I took the time
And I came up from behind this game and snuck up
And buttfucked this game up, better be careful when you bring my name up
Fuck this thing that ain’t what I came to claim
But the game ain’t gonna be the same on the day I leave it
But I swear one way or another I’m gonna make these fuckin haters believe it
I swear to God, won’t spare the rod
I’m a man of my word so your fuckin’ heads better nod
I’mma fuck around in this bitch and roast everybody
Sleep on me that pillow is where your head’s gonna lie permanently bitch, it’s beddie-bye
The world is my Easter Egg, yeah prepare to die
My head is swoll, my confidence is up, the stage is my pedestal
I’m unstoppable, incredible, hope you’re trapped in my medicine ball
I can run circles around you so fast your fuckin’ head will spin, dog
I can split your cabbage and your lettuce and olives
I’ll fuckin’…
And then the chorus hits and Weezy’s explodes back onto the scene.
It’s a perfect collaboration that will stand the test of time without question. If we’re lucky, we might see more Weezy and Em. Maybe on Relapse 2.
Another track surfaced from Lil Wayne’s new album Rebirth. The track “Drop The World” features Eminem and was produced by Surf Club producers Hit-Boy and Chase N’ Cashe. Reports claim Wayne has pushed back the release of the Rebirth album until February 2010. Listen below and let us know if your feeling Weezy and Eminem…
Usher’s new album Raymond vs. Raymond is growing in anticipation with every leaked track. The song “I Love You 2″ leaked today and it is a soft, guitar strung love ballad. Lovely track, produced by Maroon 5 member Adam Levine.
As we all know, Christmas is fast approaching and as we all also know, many of you will be struggling to think of interesting gift ideas for your nearest and dearest. ‘What shall we buy to show our love?!’ we hear you cry. Well, fear not, for we at the Fold know that sometimes, thinking beyond the usual DVD boxsets/smellies/Xbox games can be a little difficult, and so over the course of December we endeavour to bring you a new gift idea each day on the run-up to Christmas, totalling 24, and with each one we shall also bring you an accompanying song that somehow represents the gift in some way. ‘Gift ideas and related entertainment?!’ we hear you now crying! ‘How on Earth do they manage it?!’
Day #12 – Beats Tour In-Ear Headphones
We all need love a bit of music in our lives. Dr Dre says why not make that life a bit more sonic?
Here’s the details.
The Beats Tour in-ear headphones by Dr. Dre boast newly developed speaker technology to reproduce clear natural vocals, detailed highs and deep powerful bass without distortion. Wired with high-performance Monster Cable, they sound superb and are designed to stay completely tangle-free.
Features:
No more knots with tangle-free cable design.
Precision response thanks to low mass, wide bandwidth driver.
Sound-isolating eartips in multiple sizes provide a perfect fit to seal out noise.
Duraflex protective cable jacket for maximum tangle resistance and durability.
MicroStrand conductors to extend frequency response.
Patented magnetic FluxTube for more natural audio reproduction.
24K gold contacts that ensure maximum signal transfer and corrosion resistance.
Rugged protective case for superior protection.
Dre’s Beats Headphone range boasts an army of celebrity endorsements and positive reviews. Dre’s latest offering, the Beat’s Tour In-Ear headphones have a unique ribbon wire that make them impossible to tangle. Saving you precious minutes that could be filled with some rather glorious Aftermath beats – or something with a bit more weight. The price has been bumped up due to the name attached but the sound quality is rivalled only by the high-end audio products.
This is the perfect gift for that peroxide yappy friend of yours or a nice little treat to see you through the winter months.
You can buy them here for £119.95. But I would suggest heading to a certain online auction site where they sell for half the price.
Want to know what Rolling Stone thinks the 100 best albums and songs are of the last decade? Check out the new issue. Frankly, lists like these never please anyone. Your favourites never seem included. Here’s what they chose as the Top 10 songs. What do you think of their choices?
10. “Stan“– Eminem
9. “Beautiful Day“–U2
8. “Rehab“–Amy Winehouse
7. “Maps“–Yeah Yeah Yeahs
6. “Seven Nation Army“–The White Stripes
5. “Paper Planes“–M.I.A.
4. “Hey Ya!”–Outkast
3. “Crazy In Love“–Beyonce
2. “99 Problems“–Jay-Z
1. “Crazy“–Gnarls Barkley
As for my top picks of the decade? Well, I haven’t turned my mind to that yet, but maybe I should. I’ll do my best to come up with a list of some of the songs that moved me over the last ten years. Will there be any Springsteen on that list? Hmmm…
It’s rare to find examples of good musicianship in rap/hip-hop beats. Too often beats are drab 4 or 8 bar loops with little or no progression, that serve as suitable backdrops for rhymes, but present very little of interest for more open-minded listeners.
Being a fan of Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal and Fusion bands such as Planet X, Liquid Tension Experiment, Ring Of Fire and others, I have a love of complex musical concepts, particularly odd time signatures and the shifting and manipulation of beats by drummers in such genres.
That’s why I was both surprised and delighted when I recently listened through Eminem’s Relapse. Though the album was mostly a disappointment, the closing track, Undergound, contains some very, very cool rhythmic metamorphosis that is both supremely impressive and – so far as I know – unprecedented in commercial rap. [To listen to the track, click here.]
Following the free-time intro, the anthemic chorus kicks in, ostensibly in 5/8. Brilliant! I have long waited for someone to rap in an odd time signature, not counting 3 of course, and now I was going to witness one of the most gifted rappers of all time do it. However, when the first verse hits, Em’s flow is in 4/4 and seems disjointed, an out-of-place rhythmic hodge-podge. Naw.
At first I was disappointed, another opportunity to do something unique and potentially groundbreaking squandered, but after further scrutiny I realised the beat was far more complex than I had assumed. Though it sounds on first listen that the chorus is in 5/8 and the verse 4/4 – with perhaps a tempo change separating them, or some quavers dropped here and there – this is not at all the case. The beat is in fact 4/4 throughout – sitting somewhere around a comfortable 90 bpm – with the relatively simple drum loop remaining unchanged. The chorus, though it sounds like it’s in 5/8, is in fact comprised of sets of quaver quintuplets, the groupings of which begin on the ‘4 and’ of the last bar of the verse.
Yeah, I know right? Let me explain.
Below is an abstraction of the drum beat from the verse, (for non-drummers, from top to bottom the notes represent the hi-hat, snare and bass drum).
the drums, the drums
The bass, snare and hi-hat remain constant throughout the track, perpetuating the 4/4, with the vocals and strings shifting the beat and implying the 5/8. As mentioned above, the vocals and strings are quaver quintuplets – with each group of 5 notes distributed evenly into the space of 4 quavers – and the groupings begin, with the bass drum, on the final semiquaver beat of the previous bar. A picture will perhaps better demonstrate.
Below is the final bar of the first verse – at 01:38 – leading into the first three bars of the chorus, (apologies for my crude notation, my illegal version of Sibelius committed suicide).
Verse 1 into the chorus
The result is a brilliantly crafted, intelligent rap song, and once you get used to the jarring transition between the two feels, you can appreciate the true brilliance in the track’s composition, and enjoy Em’s dynamic flow and relatively strong rhymes.
Credit for this rhythmic ingenuity must either go to Trevor Lawrence Jr., a highly skilled drummer and prolific producer, or keyboardists Mark Batson and Dewaun Parker, three of the track’s five credited writers. My guess is that Lawrence was the mastermind behind it, as this is the sort of musical japery that skilled drummers revel in. Dr. Dre and Eminem on the other hand, though a brilliant producer and rapper respectively, are no musicians.
With 32.2 million copies sold, Eminem leads the pack in overall album sales, followed by The Beatles with 30 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which releases its decade tabulations today. Data were tallied through Nov. 1, and though figures could rise through Dec. 31, they won’t alter the rankings.
The Beatles’ hits compilation 1 sold 11.5 million, edging ‘N Sync’s No Strings Attached, with 11.1 million. Eminem has two titles among the top 10 albums, 2000’s The Marshall Mathers LP at No. 4 with 10.2 million and 2002’s The Eminem Show at No. 5 with 9.8 million.
An early and roaring start paid off for The Beatles and ‘N Sync. Released Nov. 13, 2000, 1 sold 595,000 its first week, 662,000 the next and 1.3 million during Christmas week. It spent eight weeks atop the chart. No Strings, issued March 21, 2000, sold 2.4 million its first seven days, the biggest week in SoundScan history.
“When you get toward 11 million units, it has to be more than early momentum,” says Eric Weinberg, president of Nielsen Entertainment. “It needs to be good. What’s amazing about this industry is that we really never know what the numbers are going to be.”
Case in point: the unexpected mainstream success of St. Louis rapper Nelly, whose hit-laden 2000 debut Country Grammar is the 10th best-selling album, with 8.5 million copies. Norah Jones’ 2002 debut, Come Away With Me, was another surprise hit, boosted by five Grammys. It lands at No. 3 with 10.5 million.
This year is almost over and an evaluation is almost inevitable. I sat and thought about the things I can evaluate and came to a conclusion that there are so many, I just can’t deal with this boredom I could cause you. I just couldn’t sleep at night if I had done the crime of wasting your time with the evaluation of my life. I mean, really, who cares what’s the best food I’ve eaten this year? Or the best daiquiri I’ve drunk? I wouldn’t. So, I’m just going to do what’s best for all of us and skip that awful part. So, followed by a really loud drumroll… Here’s the music “yeah’s” and music “no way’s” this year.
- “Sleep well” album of the year:
Norah Jones – The Fall. I would call it a “no way” if it wasn’t so plain and modest. It didn’t disturb my good night’s sleep at all, because I just didn’t notice it. So – here goes… an inconspicuous “yeah” for all of you insomniacs out there.
– “Two good singles” album of the year:
You won’t believe me on this one probably, but let’s face it – I Gotta Feeling and Boom Boom Pow were the only two good singles from this year’s Black Eyed Peas album The E.N.D. They were good, okay, they got us all moving and jumping up’n'down, but we all know it’s not enough. If I would rate singles, it would be a definite “yeah”, but for the album there’s a big, fat “noooo way”.
John Mayer - Battle Studies (c) Sony Music
– “Quite boring, but decent” album of the year:
John Mayer – The Battle Studies. And I’m really sorry to say this, John. Continuum is still the best thing you’ve created. You’re still gorgeous, I still love you, but I think the routine has hit the relationship. The good news is – you can still get back on the track. Who Says proves it. Anyhow – this is a “yeah”, despite all.
– “Jump-around-shake-your-arse-like-you-just-don’t-care” album of the year:
Jamie T – Kings & Queens. In comparison with Panic Prevention, this is a downhill, obviously, but it still holds the obvious charm of Jamie T and his own style. There were tracks I loved, there were mundane tracks, there were the weird ones as well. Maybe, as time goes by I will love the tracks I hated at first, as it was with Panic Prevention. A single I just can’t fly by and not mention in this case is Sticks’n'Stones – amazing, full of energy and an obvious success. So yeah, I do give it a “yeah”. And I still want to see him perform live. Preferably Sheila and Northern Line, though.
Jamie T - Kings & Queens (c) Virgin Records
– “It was good, but let’s not take this any further” album of the year:
Susan Boyle – I Dreamed A Dream. Well, this is just sad. Okay, it was great how she rocked Simon’s socks off at Britain’s Got Talent last year, but why, and this is a serious WHY, did she have to record an album, for God’s sake? And yeah, I know everyone has a right for their 15 minutes of fame, but didn’t hers tick out when she performed the third time of the song from Les Miserables? Oh well, but what do I know… Everyone, hurry to get your copy of copies!
– ALBUM OF THE YEAR. As simple as that.
Jamie Cullum – The Pursuit. I am convinced that a lot of people will listen to Jamie Cullum, the young boy (well, not so young anymore as he turned 30 this year) from Essex, in the future the way we listen to Frank Sinatra now. With honor, appreciation and admiration. Despite the critics who are on to Jamie about him “making the jazz pop-ish” I think that we are actually experiencing the birth (yes, and I’m sure he’s only in the early stages) of a legend. The first time I heard The Pursuit, I thought “Okay, not a lot of new stuff, but it’s decent at least. He hasn’t made the world’s best album, but he is still not breaking his own levels of mastery”. Then I heard it again, and again, and again… And I fell in love. I’m still listening to THe Pursuit every single day and it still gives me goose pumps. So “yeah”, this is a very loud “YEAH” for fabulous Jamie Cullum.
Jamie Cullum - The Pursuit (c) Universal Music
I’ve got some “yeah’s” to give to Dave Matthews Band for Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, Amerie for In Love & War, Mika for The Boy Who Knew Too Much, Arctic Monkeys for Humbug, Ida Maria for – Fortress Round My Heart, Royksopp for Junior and Muse for The Resistance. And some definite “no way’s” for Eminem – Relapse and some of the very unfortunate comeback attempts from The Backstreet Boys and Take That (YES, INDEED!)
Nov 10 1977- Dec 20 2009 RIP Scorpio
