Counting Cards in Vegas & other: June 2008

Friday, 27 June 2008

Natasha Bedingfield to duet with fan

Natasha Bedingfield is holding a competition to find a fan to duet with on her upcoming US tour.

The 26-year-old revealed that she will pick a winner from audition tapes and bring the fan up on stage to sing at her San Francisco show.

She said: "We have a duet contest, which is really exciting. You submit your version of 'Pocket Full Of Sunshine' either online at VerizonVIPtour.com, or on the bus which travels round with me and is parked normally right outside the venue.

"I listen to all those versions and I handpick the winner, and the prize is that you get to come to San Francisco and sing with me at the very final show of my whole tour."

Bedingfield added that she cannot wait to start her first ever US headlining tour.

"I'm very, very excited," she said. "My band brings the songs to a completely new dimension, it's even better than the album. I'm also having a chance to really meet my fans face to face."

See Also

Spirogyra

Artist: Spirogyra

   Genre(s):
Rock

Discography:

Burn The Bridges

Year: 2002
Tracks: 17

Bells, Boots And Shambles

Year: 1973
Tracks: 7

Old Boot Wine

Year: 1972
Tracks: 9

St. Radigunds

Year: 1971
Tracks: 10

The Cribs: 'The Sex Pistols are sexually fantastic'

Danilo Vigorito

Artist: Danilo Vigorito

   Genre(s):
Techno

Discography:

Evolution Funk Part 1

Year: 2003
Tracks: 2

Orbeat Vol. 1 (ORBEAT01)

Year: 2002
Tracks: 3

Born Jamericans

Northstream

Artist: Northstream

   Genre(s):
Other

Discography:

Time Of Triumphal Cleanliness

Year: 2004
Tracks: 6

50 Cent Restrained, Sues Ex for $20 Million

Welcome to Family Feud: 50 Cent Edition.

It was a busy day for the rapper as he was slapped with a restraining order barring him from coming anywhere near his estanged baby mama and...

Thursday, 26 June 2008

Grailknights

Artist: Grailknights

   Genre(s):
Metal: Heavy

Discography:

Across The Galaxy

Year: 2004
Tracks: 10

Mike Myers - Hindu Leader Takes Aim At Myers Over Frivolous Guru Comments

Nas' New Tape Gets 'The Streets Ready' For Upcoming Album; Lil Wayne Had His People Call Jay-Z: Mixtape Monday

Artists: Nas and DJ Green Lantern

Representing: Queens

Mixtape: The N----- Tape

411: "This sh-- is gonna have the streets right [and] have the streets ready for the album." 'Nuff said about Nas' new mixtape, The N----- Tape. Nas and DJ Green Lantern recently forged one of the best street CDs this year. Nas had to go through his vault and give up some rare and unused vocals to the Evil Genius, who created soundscapes around the words for soil-burning songs.

"I was like, 'Let me get some exclusives. I wanna make a movie,' " Green said of the project.

"We went to the studio, and this man's work speaks for itself," Nas said. "He gave me some of the joints. Some of the joints sounded like they were right for the album. I had to snatch them for the album. We really getting it done. It's coming out right."

Sure enough, some of Green's material will find its way onto Nas' untitled official LP on July 15.

"One and a half," Lantern said about how many records will appear on the opus. " 'Black President' is on there. There's another one called 'Like Me.' It was supposed to be for the mixtape. He gave me a cappellas that wasn't out yet. I made a song around it. New beat, had somebody come and make a hook. It's like some pimp sh--. Nas loved it. He put another verse on it and said, 'I need it for my album. Don't put it on the mixtape.' When they did the final cut of the album, ['Like Me'] got cut, but it's on the international release and the iTunes and Amazon.com exclusive."

Joints To Check For

» "Cops Keep Firing." "I took the a cappella and made a verse, then Nas added an extra verse, because he was so inspired," Green Lantern explained.

"I had the rhymes for this last year," Nas added. "But I didn't want to do this kind of record until this man made me see this is the type of record I need to do."

» "Gangsta Rap" remix. "[Nas] said a couple of things in the verse I thought was good to start the tape off with," Green Lantern said. "I made a beat to kinda let his raps breathe so he could be rhyming. I wanted to let the rhymes say what it needed to. The beat wasn't too busy, but the beat was still hard. I wanted it to be a nice opener. Normally, somebody would start the tape with something people never heard before. I said, 'I'm just gonna do it.' That was really for the Nas fans, the rap zombies that are on top of everything."

» "Legendary." "Salaam Remi ... is scoring the [Mike] Tyson documentary," Green said. "Him and Nas have a great relationship, obviously, so maybe that will be on there. From hearing the song, I want to see that documentary. That 's one of the more fiery joints on there."

Don't Sleep: Other Notable Selections This Week

» Big Mike and DJ Thoro - Grand Theft Audio 3

» DJ A-Smooth - The Youngest in Charge

» DJ Rell and Gucci Mane - Wilt Chamberlain: The Mixtape

» G-Unit - Sincerely Yours

» KD a.k.a. Han D Man - Worldwide 33

'Hood's Heavy Rotation: Bubbling Below The Radar

» Ace Hood - "You Already Know"

» B.G. (featuring Lil Wayne, Juvenile and Trey Songz) - "Ya Heard Me"

» The Boss Hogg Outlawz (featuring Ray J) - "Keep It Playa"

» Corey Gunz (featuring Ryan Leslie) - "Get Right Tonight"

» David Banner (featuring Nas) - "Middle Finger"

» Nipsey Hussle (featuring the Game) - "Bullets" remix

» Young Buck - "Taped Conversation"

Celebrity Faves

The-Dream has a huge record called "I Luv Your Girl" that nobody is getting tired of. The singer's track about pilfering another guy's chick has everybody singing its contagious, dismissive bridge: "F--- thaaaaatttt n---a." Dream thanks Island/ Def Jam chairman L.A. Reid for the inspiration to make the song.

"L.A. told me that my album sucked," Dream joked. "He told me I need to go make another song. He said, 'The whole album sucks. Why did I bother with you?' All those sorts of things. I was like, 'You playing, man.' Nah, he didn't say that."

Dream also said that when he sings the bridge in his high-pitched voice, on the record, he is definitely not referring to Mr. Reid.

The Streets Is Talking: News & Notes From The Underground

Lil Wayne has a million copies under his belt and is slated to start his Tha Carter III tour this week. One of the album's standout tracks is Weezy's collaboration with Jay-Z, "Mr. Carter." Wayne told us last week that Hov was just a phone call away. Weezy co-managers G. Roberson and Kyambo "Hip Hop" Joshua used to be execs at Roc-A-Fella records.

"Shout-out to my [other manger] Cortez, my man G. My man Hip Hop," Wayne said. "I asked them. I said, 'That's y'all big homie. I want a record.' And I sent him that one. I thought that was perfect. I already had three verses to it and everything. I sent it, and the rest is history."

An alternate version of "Mr. Carter" has leaked since the release of TCIII featuring some of those unused raps Wayne described.

The Carter III song "Don't Get It" — or, as the streets call it, "Misunderstood" — garnered some talk because of the way Wayne goes after the Reverend Al Sharpton at the end of the record. In no uncertain terms, Birdman Jr. tells the rev he has no respect for him. Sharpton responded through the media, saying he refused to address anyone who doesn't say anything "substantive" in their music. Weezy has zero concern.

"Obviously, I don't have any thoughts on nobody's response, because I wouldn't have said what I said [if I cared]," Wayne said. "I don't care what nobody thinks or feels about what I said. I think and feel what I said. I believe in it. No one has to side with me. My daughter smiles every time she sees me." ...

Why'd they get him started? Gorilla Zoe told us last week in Atlanta that being able to eat has only made him hungrier. After he released his debut album, Welcome to the Zoe, several months ago, he jumped right back in the studio to record mixtapes and his sophomore LP.

"Really, it means that I've tasted success," Zoe explained of the album's title, Don't Feed the Animals. "It's over now! You know how when you go to the zoo and your parents tell you, 'Don't feed the animals. Don't give them the peanuts, 'cause they gonna want more. Don't feed a dog raw beef — he's gonna wanna taste that blood again.' I've done tasted that money, homie. That's what it means. Get-money time."

For other artists featured in Mixtape Monday, check out Mixtape Mondays Headlines.

See Also

Martin Barre

Artist: Martin Barre

   Genre(s):
Rock

Discography:

Stage Left

Year: 2003
Tracks: 14

As the spark advance guitar player for Jethro Tull, Martin Barre has been joined at the hip to Ian Anderson since 1969, when he replaced Mick Abrahams in the group's lineup. His playing has provided practically of the energy that allows the band to soar on record and in concert amid the knockout of Anderson's melodies and the complexity of his lyrics, and played no small persona in portion the stager band (some would say "dinosaur") make headway the 1988 Grammy for Best Hard Rock Album for Crest of a Knave. Anderson himself has been quoted as locution, "Without Martin Barre, Jethro Tull could not be."

Barre's solo run was confined to his home studio until he assembled a band to play some charity gigs in the early 1990s. Since then, he has recorded a partner off of albums that allow him to stretch stunned in directions that Tull unremarkably doesn't license, and to put his instrument into new sounds, genres, and musical contexts.