Song of the Week

So, since I'm in love with music I thought I'd do a song of the week for those of you that love it as much as i do. Well, I have talked a lot in past blogs about artists that I like and some are underground artists (most of which SHOULD be signed).

The song of the week is going to have to be "Mood Music" by a singer/songwriter named Jaiden "The Cure." He is an underground singer/songwriter that I discovered last year through another artist named Jayms Madison. Jaiden is not signed and does not have a label; why this is so I have no clue what-so-ever. Once you listen to his voice, extremely beautiful falsetto, and his insane runs and range, you'll be blown away just like I was and still am every time I listen to him. "Mood Music" is a remix he did to Lil Wayne's song "Single" but he adds that R&B flavor and style to it with his vocals and phenomenal harmonizing; which is all done by Mr. Jaiden himself. Here is the song for you to listen to and also download some of his music if you like him: http://jaidenthecure.bandcamp.com/. You can also follow Jaiden on twitter, add his music page on myspace, or become a fan and listen and download more music on facebook. Please support this artists.

Well thats all for this week guys, nothing special to add but I hope you like the song of the week. Keep reading and leave me some feedback...and don't forget to support Jaiden and other underground artists!

MJ

"Time to go to Jail"

Ok so we all know that Lindsay Lohan is FINALLY going to jail after several years of screw ups and DUI's. Personally I think she should've been in jail a long time ago. If she was a regular person, she would've been there after the first offense. Lohan has been involved with the law for many years; her first offense took place when she had a really bad break-up with now ex-boyfriend and restaurant owner Harry Morton. She had various parties and drinking binges and while on the set of Georgia Rule she was noted to have been late several times and complained about exhaustion and frequent headaches. She made up excuses but the directors and fellow cast members knew what her nights, weekends, and off-time consisted of; heavy drinking and parties. She couldn't hide that from her cast members, nor could she hide from the law. In 2007 she under-went appendix surgery during the filming of "I Know Who Killed Me" and then admitted herself in Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and rehabilitation clinic as well to get her drinking under control. Unfortunately, none of the rehabilitation treatments have lasted or stuck with Lohan and she has further ruined her life and furthermore her career.

(Lohan's Mugshot following her DUI Charges and possession of crack cocaine in 2007)

Not only has the media and the entire world had enough of her irresponsible behavior but the law has also had enough as well. Lohan was due in for a court date recently in 2010 for her DUI charges. She was nowhere to be found and was not present for the hearing which led the judge with no other choice; he issued a warrant for Lohan's arrest. Due to issues of a passport being stolen after a trip she had recently returned from the judge decided to give her an alternative; again he had no other choice because Lohan, once again, figured out how to get out of getting arrested. Her lawyer and and representatives posted bail before she was arrested which bought her some time before a new trial was issued. She attended her new trial on May 24th 2010 and the verdict was decided; Lohan was assigned "to attend weekly alcohol education classes, wear an alcohol-monitoring bracelet, refrain from drinking alcohol, and undergo random weekly drug tests to remain free on bail." Later after her last hearing, she was to attend another trial on July 6th, 2010 which would check whether Lohan violated her requirements after bail. After a short trial, the judge had revealed that Lohan had indeed violated her requirements and was senteced to 90 days in jail and following her release from jail was to check into an inpatient rehab program for three months then regularly see a probation officer.

 (Another drunken night, circa 2009)

Lohan's entire career has consisted of being in the lime light of the media and she has done nothing but ruin her career. Lohan is a very talented young actress but she is really ruining her life by making these very irresponsible decisions with her life. During her trial, Lohan's attorney states that he believes she is suffering from disease that is supposedly "altering her brain activity and making her do things that she knows are wrong." Well sir, I beg to differ. There are no excuses for her troubling past nor is there any disease that she's suffering from unless it's perhaps called, stupidity? Lindsay is NOT suffering from a disease nor is her mind being altered by anything other than drugs and alcohol which is why she deserves to be in jail and be in a rehabilitation center for her so-called 'disease.' To read the full article, follow this link for more information: http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b190831_lindsay_lohans_new_lawyer_she_suffering.html.

 (In court on June 6th, 2010 facing sentencing)

She is now 24 years old and she has a long life ahead of her to live. She really needs to start making her life a little easier and stop traveling down the wrong road. At some point you would think that people see a time to change or when they should make a change, but Lindsay doesn't seem to be looking to do that any time soon. Maybe these 90 days in jail will teach her that you only get so many chances and that some changes need to go into affect real quick. So Lindsay, is this how you want to be remembered?

"Smok!ng Cigarettes"

Now I'm gonna say this one more time...WHAT'S GOING ON?! Now I've always been into music, and I always will be. But just recently, maybe a couple of years ago, I started scouting out new, underground talent around the internet like youtube and myspace. I've come across some amazingly talented people but the one artist and the only singer/songwriter that outshined all the rest was a girl named Jayms Madison.

If you've kept up with my blog lately you might notice her picture on a previous blog that I wrote. She is an amazing underground singer that has the range of Whitney Houston and the swagger of Beyonce. Jayms has been on tour with Musiq Soulchild and sang back-up vocals for him. She has also worked with Rapper/Producer Sean P. Diddy Combs and written for several different artists such as Chrisette Michele and Stacie Orrico.

Jayms has broken the mold and created a sound that no one can compare too. She has stated several times in interviews that she hopes to be a universal artist in which she hope to appeal to all people, regardless of their musical genre or preferences.  Jayms has a myspace page as well with some of her tracks on it that you can listen to. Here's the link http://www.myspace.com/jaymsmadison. She is a fantastic talent and she is soon to be releasing more music, hopefully either at the end of this summer or in due time by fall. She also has a youtube channel as well and I recently saw where she did a cover to Tweet's song "Smoking Cigarettes", hints the title; and let me just say that it literally BLEW MY MIND. Here's the link to the video if you want to check it out and/or subscribe to her channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/jaymsmadison.

 Jayms has also gone international in Jamaica and will soon be parting to India. She has done a phenomenal job with breaking through and as long as she continues to do what she is doing, she can make it. I feel like the record companies aren't listening or scouting out ANY new talent these days and quite frankly they need to start doing their jobs. I can't stress enough the fact that most of the artists now-a-days all sounds like "bubble-gum-pop-singers" and its literally starting to get on my LAST nerves. When I hear people like Jayms not only cover other artists songs (and most of the time sound better then they do) but also has her own style and her own music that she writes and can appeal to many different people and sounds excellent doing it; that is what truly pisses me off. There is also a place where you can listen to some of her rare songs, one that I personally love is called "Lovely"...here is the link if you're interested: http://tweetmysong.com/8i89gl. Please support her and follow her on twitter as well: http://twitter.com/jaymsmadison. Thanks guys and keep reading.

MJ

"Man in the Mirror"

As you all may know, on June 27th, 2010 the BET awards was aired live on national television. If anyone reading this is not aware with this its basically an awards show recognizing and appreciating the music and successful careers of African American artists. There were many amazingly talented and well-known artists that performed at the awards show. Alicia Keys performed her songs "Unthinkable," "If I Ain't Got You," and "You Don't Know My Name;" all of which are from previous and current albums. There were also newer artists that performed in the Prince tribute portion of the show such as Janelle Monae who performed Prince's most popular songs "Let's Go Crazy." Also, Trey Songz did a montage of his songs and he performed a snippet of Prince's famous song "Purple Rain" that he covered briefly in between his performance. There were others such as Drake, Young Jeezy, Nicki Minaj, and also an introduction and return of rapper Kanye West who has been on a hiatus from the rap game after his past popularity with the media.

Out of all of these amazing artists and outstandingly phenomenal performances, one act stood out from all the rest and that was no other than, Chris Brown. Now it has been a year since the greatly missed King of Pop past on, Michael Jackson. In his honor Chris Brown did a special and surprisingly amazing performance of the King's famous dance moves and innovative musical successes. He started out by performing songs like "The Way You Make Me Feel", to "Do You Remember the Time," then into "Smooth Criminal" and then went straight into "Billie Jean." This segment consisted a montage of songs that was dazzled with background dancers in outfits with lighting effects on their suits flashing with their every move. Here is a brief look at the performance and tribute that you can watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCYt1mK3-qc. Horrible quality, I know, but its just there for you to get the real picture and feel the emotions felt when he performed these songs. Towards the end of Chris's tribute to the King of Pop, he sang on a softer note a song that touched the entire audience, "Man in the Mirror" in which Chris was suppose to sing in closing of his performance. The audience was expecting him to go out with a bang but was soon shocked to realize that Chris's notes weren't out of key for lack of practice, skill, or endurance it was because while he was singing that song, he was looking at himself and past mistakes and feeling the music like never before.

Brown has been speculated and looked down upon by the media since his accusations and later sentencing of abuse on his then girlfriend Rihanna Fenty. After this heart wrenching performance, I think his experience with trouble has been redeemed and finally forgiven, well, at least thats what most would like to believe; but others aren't seeing it too much like people like me. There was a recent poll on a website that asked viewers if they thought that Chris Brown took it too far with the crying and whether we, the people and viewers, thought he was faking to redeem himself and get our trust and loyalty back. When I read this, I was extremely angered and I felt really upset. Now I do not condone violence of any kind, but I do believe that people ought to receive a second chance, no matter what their past. If they're asking for one, I think they should at least be given a chance to show that people can change for the better. So, what do you guys think?

MJ

"Welcome Back, Welcome Back, Wel-Come Back"

So rumor has it, or should i say 'fact' has it that the legendary Lauryn Hill has resurfaced and is coming back to take the music business over, yet AGAIN. In a recent interview with National Public Radio's Zoe Chace following her performance in Santa Rosa, California last weekend Hill revealed her future plans to continue with her music.

(Hill Performing in 2008)

Hill is a famously known R&B artist that made her big break when she starred in the widely known movie Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit when she was recognized for her musical talent and phenomenal voice. She was initially interested in acting and once she got her opportunity to pursue her career she also opened up another door completely different than the path she had initially intended to take.

In her early years, she was associated with a group known as the Fugees that contained other well known artists Wyclef Jean and Prakazrel "Pras" Michel and they had a short lived career together before Hill went solo and made her break for fame with her album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1998. The album focused on many different issues such as getting pregnant at a young age and being pressured into getting an abortion, having promiscuous relationships, love, happiness, heart break, and betrayal. This album was so successful mainly because it focused on everyday issues that everyone all around the world can either relate to or has been faced with one time or another in their lives. The album was widely disapproved by her former band members after their break up in 1996 due to personal issues. After a while Wyclef Jean accepted her decision to go solo and offered to help with the production of the album but those plans never followed out as planned.

(The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, 1998: The only album release by Hill)

 Hill’s debut of the album sold 500,000 copies in its first week of sale and has since then gone certified platinum in Australia, gold in Austria, Platinum in Belgium, 7 times platinum in Canada, 2 times platinum in France, platinum in Germany, platinum in the Netherlands, 3 times platinum in New Zealand, platinum in Sweden, Gold in Switzerland, 2 times platinum in the United Kingdom, and 8 times platinum in the United States. The album was commercially and critically successful and at the time had broken the record for first week of sales by a female artist. The album was also known as the first Hip-Hop album to be named album of the year. With this album’s success, it led to 10 Grammy nominations in which Hill won five at the 41st Grammy Awards Ceremony in 1998. Hill had many big name artists involved in the making of this album. She had then undiscovered artists featured in her album such as John Legend and also very well known artists such as D’angelo and Mary J. Blidge. As of 2010, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill has sold over 8 million copies in the United States alone and worldwide 18 million copies. The album is still continuing to sell to this day.

 (Performing in New York's Central Park in 2005)

Even though this album was the only solo album Hill has ever made, this album will most likely be one of the greatest albums of all time throughout her music career. Hill is now touring in various places around the world such as Australia, Canada, and New Zealand continuing to dazzle fans and keep on the legacy of the legendary solo album that has made national and worldwide success. Hopefully this news is permanent and the plans for a new album don't fall through. Lauryn Hill is a legend and always will be no matter if she comes back or not.Hill has many different reasons why she's been off the scene for a while. She has 5 children to take care of and thats a huge responsibility to withhold, but Lauryn notably said in an interview that, "It's Just Time" and Mrs. Hill, all your fans agree.

MJ