Amerie will always have joints, but a cursory skim through In Love and War by this blogger resulted in not a little ambivalence. Most of my indifference comes courtesy of tracks like “Heard ‘Em All” (adding Weezy is insult to injury but I understand how calculated this was, though it was too contrived) and “Swag Back” (based on title alone). With that in mind, I can’t write a proper review. Let’s see what other folks had to say, since my soft spot for her has become a callous:
This is the extended commercial for Janet Jackson’s Number Ones. Nothing new to see here, however, upon perusing multiple Janet sites there seems to be some confusion over Rodney Jerkins’ involvement versus Jimmy & Terry’s on her forthcoming studio album. Let’s take a look at what Jerkins recently said, just in the interest of clarification:
“They were taking her in a different direction, but it wasn’t iconic,” Jerkins said of the famous duo. “There is a certain groove, there is a certain melodic-ness to Janet and you have to be able to capture that. Also, Janet writes. A lot of the hits that happened in the past, Janet was heavily involved in the writing process. And if you look on her last three records, she didn’t write at all. So that’s the first thing I did with her. I gave her a pen and a pad and said, ‘We’re going back to the roots. I want you involved; I want to see how you feel.”
Release the hounds.
Did you know Hidden Beach, record label to Jill Scott plus a bunch of other artists, was still releasing those atrocious Unwrapped “jazz” compilations? If not, I’m here to fuck your day up: They are. A long long time ago, “jazz” renditions of popular Hip-Hop songs seemed like a novel idea, but as Hip-Hop becomes more grotesque, what we need less of is multiple versions of played-out, shitty songs.
Unwrapped Vol. 6: A Tribute To Lil’ Wayne Give The Drummer Some features a 24-year-old drummer named Tony Royster, Jr., who is too young to be sucked into this Old People Fail. Who decides, at 24, that they’re gonna totally fuck up the crappy songs their peers love by oldifying them? Also, this album is mostly a bunch of songs we got sick of until they became parodies of themselves: “Best I Ever Had”, “Every Girl”, “Turnin’ Me On”, “Single Ladies”, etc, with a couple tracks by De La Soul and Craig Mack tossed in for ornery Hip-Hop elitists such as myself. Whatever, Hidden Beach!
Ok, so maybe we all spoke too soon regarding Adam Lambert’s cover art because SWEET MERCIFUL CHRIST LOOK AT CHRIS BROWN’S! It’s not enough, apparently, to suit up in second-skin Matrix cast-offs, just add a few wacky colorful creatures (haters?) in the corner to let us know that, in your heart of hearts, you are still a fun-loving kid. Is that what this is, Chris Brown? No, seriously, explain the extraneous cartoon fucks. Do they live in your head? Should we expect a duet with MC Skat Cat?
Let me first start off by saying I do not watch American Idol, ever. But I do know who Adam Lambert is and how everyone wanted him to win and the shitstorm that ensued when he did not. He was recently featured heteroing it up for the cover of Details (the meta-irony in that is so tremendous the universe has yet to recover) in advance of his album debut For Your Entertainment. Now would you look at this album cover! A commenter over at Idolator so keenly observed “Looks like the folks who used to design covers for No Limit Records have branched out into emo pop.” Ha! Couldn’t agree more. Jesus. Who approved this hot Jerrica Benton mess?
