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Posts published in “Music”

Jay-Z Joins Pitch to Redevelop Nassau Coliseum

By goodblacknews on May 3, 2013

Jay-Z attends the 'The Great Gatsby' world premiere at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on May 1, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)
Jay-Z attends the ‘The Great Gatsby’ world premiere at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on May 1, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

NBC New York – Jay-Z is part of a group trying to renovate Nassau Coliseum.  The music mogul attended a meeting Thursday on Long Island, where the media was briefed on four proposals to renovate the arena and surrounding property.  Nassau County officials have been trying to come up with a plan to redevelop the 40-year-old arena for many years.  Its primary tenant, the New York Islanders hockey team, is moving to the new arena in Brooklyn when its lease expires in 2015.  Jay-Z’s Roc Nation is part of a group that built Barclays Arena and is bidding for the Long Island project.

Click here to read more.
article via thegrio.com

R.I.P. Chris "Mack Daddy" Kelly of Atlanta-Based '90s Rap Duo Kriss Kross

By goodblacknews on May 1, 2013

Kris Kross
According to the AP and ABC News, Chris “Mack Daddy” Kelly (pictured left) from the hip-hop duo Kris Kross, has reportedly died in Atlanta today. He was announced dead around 5 p.m. this evening at the Atlanta Medical Center. Kelly was only 34 years old.
Because it is so soon, authorities are unclear about the cause of his sudden death, and an autopsy will be performed. Kelly and Chris Smith had a huge amount of fame in the 90s, bringing us classic jams like “Jump,” “Warm It Up,” and “I Missed The Bus,” the anthem for habitually late students everywhere in the early ’90s. The duo was also known for wearing their clothes backwards, going with their name, Kriss Kross. They were discovered by Jermaine Dupri at a shopping mall in Atlanta, and the two even performed together again for the first time in years during the So So Def 20th Anniversary concert earlier in the year. There was talk of them possibly working on new music in the future.
Sadly, that won’t be happening. But we’ll always have their past work, especially Totally Krossed Out. As more information comes out about Kelly’s sudden passing, we’ll keep you updated, but keep his family in your prayers and play “Jump” at least once before you call it a night.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=010KyIQjkTk&w=420&h=315]
article by Clarke Gail Baines via madamenoire.com

Diggy Simmons Talks About His Graduation Plans, Why Education Is Important

By goodblacknews on April 28, 2013


If you know anything about the Simmons household it’s this; yes, they are all talented and musically inclined, but education comes FIRST.
That’s why the non-profit organization, Get Schooled, is collaborating with rapper Diggy Simmons to engage and inspire the youth to help them excel in school and imporve graduation rates.
And – speaking of graduation – guess who is about to walk across that stage?
So we had to get the details straight from Diggy about his plans after high school, why he thinks education is important, and of course, if there are any graduation parties.
We caught him right after he played Celebrity Principal for the day at Baltimore’s New Era Academy with the Get Schooled foundation. Here’s what he had to say.
How did the title “Principal Diggy” sound to you?
It was incredible. I don’t know if they ever did anything like this but I was happy I got to be a part of it and we answered questions and we were just talking about school and the importance of education, and I’m just so happy for them. The fact that they have perfect attendance and I got to come here for that and just the fact that I can do that and I can be a part was just a real big deal for me.
What are you’re favorite subjects or subject?
My favorite is English. I’ve always liked English. English is dope.

So you like to read?
Yea. I like a lot of the books that I get. I just like writing – like creative writing- and that’s where it lead into why I love writing music so much. I’ve liked history a lot too this year. I’ve taken a liking to it.
Another month you’re graduating high school. How’s that feel?
Yes, yes, yep! It’s a good feeling man. I mean, just from starting school all the way up ’till now it’s like I’ve really done it and I’m really doing it and I’m happy that I have people around me who care. And through them caring and letting me know the importance, it made me care and know the importance and that has carried into me being a young adult and wanting the best for myself.

Lauryn Hill's New Album: Singer To Release First Studio Effort Since 1998's 'Miseducation'

By goodblacknews on April 27, 2013

Lauryn HillLauryn Hill posted a statement to her official Tumblr account, announcing that she’s back in the studio for the first time since 1998’s iconic “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” The singer’s only album since “Miseducation” has been 2002’s “MTV Unplugged No. 2.0,” recorded live at the MTV Studios in Times Square the previous year. This will mark her first studio material in 15 years, and fans will surely be anxious to lay down a welcome mat for the former Fugees singer, who has steadily grown more eccentric over the past decade.
Hill revealed on Tumblr that she is launching a new record label in conjunction with Sony Worldwide Entertainment as an effort to pay the $504,000 she owes immediately in taxes.
Here’s an excerpt of her post:

I’ve remained silent, after an extensive healing process. This has been a 10+ year battle, for a long time played out behind closed doors, but now in front of the public eye. This is an old conflict between art and commerce… free minds, and minds that are perhaps overly tethered to structure. This is about inequity, and the resulting disenfranchisement caused by it. I’ve been fighting for existential and economic freedom, which means the freedom to create and live without someone threatening, controlling, and/or manipulating the art and the artist, by tying the purse strings. 
It took years for me to get out of the ‘parasitic’ dynamic of my youth, and into a deal that better reflects my true contribution as an artist, and (purportedly) gives me the control necessary to create a paradigm suitable for my needs. I have been working towards this for a long time, not just because of my current legal situation, but because I am an artist, I love to create, and I need the proper platform to do so.

Legal issues aside, Hill hasn’t been totally out of the spotlight since “Miseducation” stormed through the music scene. Her “MTV Unplugged” effort divided the critics who so unanimously praised her debut solo album, with Rolling Stone calling “Unplugged” a “public breakdown,” and she has sometimes left her passionate legion of fans disappointed by her public persona.

R.I.P. Cordell Mosson, Bassist for Parliament-Funkadelic

By goodblacknews on April 26, 2013
Cordell Mosson playing bass for Parliament-Funkadelic.

Cordell Mosson, a guitarist whose bass line drove the flamboyant band Parliament-Funkadelic for four decades, died on April 18 in New Brunswick, N.J. He was 60.  The cause was liver failure, his companion, Donna Snead, said Thursday.

Mr. Mosson — Boogie to his band mates and audiences — had been a fixture of the group since the early 1970s, playing bass, drums and eventually rhythm guitar and, like the rest of George Clinton’s sprawling collective, appearing onstage in elaborate, intergalactic outfits.

He collaborated on seminal P-Funk albums like “Up for the Down Stroke” and “Funkentelechy and the Placebo Syndrome” and replaced Bootsy Collins onstage as the bassist when Mr. Collins left to focus on his solo career. (Mr. Collins still recorded with the group.) Mr. Mosson toured with the group until 2011.

In an interview on Thursday, Mr. Clinton, the band’s leader and frontman, recalled Mr. Mosson as multifaceted, able to play “all the psychedelic stuff and the Motown and the James Brown.”

“Boogie’s been playing with us since he was 13 or 14,” Mr. Clinton said, adding, “He was the heartbeat for a long time.”

Mr. Mosson appeared with the band in the 1994 film comedy “PCU,” starring Jeremy Piven, Jon Favreau and David Spade. He and 15 other members of the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

Cardell Mosson Jr. was born on Oct. 16, 1952, in New Brunswick. In addition to Ms. Snead, he is survived by four daughters, LaPortia Nicholson, Lisa Brown, Latonya Snead and Ramona Perry; four sons, Chauncey Mosson, David Shropshire, Cordell Boogie Mosson and Remby Perry; a brother, the Rev. Larry Mosson; and eight grandchildren.

 article by Daniel E. Slotnik via nytimes.com

New Orleans Jazz Fest to Feature Jill Scott, B.B. King and N.O. Native Frank Ocean

By goodblacknews on April 26, 2013
Frank Ocean
Frank Ocean

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — If there’s a theme to this year’s New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, it may be living legends.  Headliners include B.B. King, Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, Hall and Oates and Fleetwood Mac. There’s also a cast of modern-day hit makers such as The Black Keys, Maroon 5, Jill Scott, Kem, the Dave Matthews Band and New Orleans native Frank Ocean.

Over the next two weekends, fans of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival will be treated to traditional jazz as well as rock ‘n roll, Cajun, gospel, blues, hip-hop, funk and zydeco.  “The way the talent fell into place this year, it became a very special year for us,” festival producer Quint Davis said. “It’s Jazz Fest, but it’s also B.B. King, Willie Nelson. It’s Ben Harper. It’s Hall and Oates. We ended up with probably the greatest living proponent in each kind of music we feature here.”
In all, about 5,000 entertainers will play the festival on 12 stages. The first weekend is Friday through Sunday, and the following weekend starts Thursday, May 2, and lasts until Sunday, May 5.

‘American Idol’ Judge Nicki Minaj Joining Fox’s ‘The Other Woman’

By goodblacknews on April 25, 2013

Nicki Minaj, whose clever and sassy commentary makes American Idol bearable, has signed on to star with Cameron Diaz in The Other Woman, a film that Nick Cassavetes is directing for Fox. Diaz plays a woman who realizes she is not her boyfriend’s primary lover, and teams up with the man’s wife to plot revenge. Game Of Thrones‘ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays the cad, and Leslie Mann, Kate Upton and Chicago Fire‘s Taylor Kinney also star. Minaj makes her screen–starring debut, playing the larger-than-life assistant to Diaz’s lawyer character. The assistant is opinionated and sharp and brutally honest, and we know Minaj can handle that. The film shoots in New York in May. 
article by Mike Fleming Jr. via deadline.com

Born On This Day in 1917: American Musical Legend Ella Fitzgerald

By goodblacknews on April 25, 2013

Ella FitzgeraldElla Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996), also known as the “First Lady of Song”, “Queen of Jazz”, and “Lady Ella”, was an American jazz vocalist with a vocal range spanning three octaves (D♭3 to D♭6). She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing and intonation, and a “horn-like” improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing.
Fitzgerald was a notable interpreter of the Great American Songbook. Over the course of her 59-year recording career, she sold 40 million copies of her 70-plus albums, won 13 Grammy Awards and was awarded the National Medal of Arts by Ronald Reagan and the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George H. W. Bush.
ella_fitzgeralds_96th_birthday-1212009-hpAs Google honors Ella with her own Google Doodle today (pictured left), learn more about her life and music on Wikipedia.org.  Also, it is truly worth watching all seven minutes and thirty-nine seconds of the video below as Al Jarreau and Nancy Wilson honor Ella with a spectacular version of one of her biggest hits, “A Tisket, A Tasket” at the 1988 NAACP Image Awards.  Then, after 71 year-old Fitzgerald receives her award, she sings a dynamic, swinging, commanding version of “You Are The Sunshine of My Life” that is not to be missed:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AYin310AaI&w=420&h=315]
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson

Snoop Lion 1st Guest Editor of Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy; Offers Listen of New "Reincarnated" CD

By goodblacknews on April 23, 2013


In the 20 years since Snoop Dogg released his genre-defining debut “Doggystyle,” the rapper’s name has become a sort of hip-hop shorthand, and he’s become a larger than life figure in popular culture over a string of albums and movie roles (“Starsky & Hutch,” “Training Day”). So it came as something of a surprise when the MC rechristened himself “Snoop Lion” last year after studying the Rastafari religion in Jamaica, and announced he was recording a reggae album, “Reincarnated,” which comes out Tuesday.
Snoop today takes over Speakeasy as the first-ever special guest editor, and in that role wrote an essay that explains his reggae transformation, assigned a story about the part youth sports programs play in communities, and will answer questions from readers. Check back in throughout the day to read Snoop’s contributions.
It only makes sense to pair his guest-editing stint with “Reincarnated,” which Speakeasy is streaming in its entirety. To listen, click here. The album features contributions from Drake, Akon and Miley Cyrus, and production from Diplo and Major Lazer. If you have questions for Snoop, send them on Twitter with the hashtag #AskSnoop.
article by Eric R. Danton via blogs.wsj.com

R.I.P. Legendary Woodstock Singer and Songwriter Richie Havens

By goodblacknews on April 23, 2013
Richie Havens performs at the 'Woodstock 40th Anniversary' Blu-Ray release party at Hard Rock Cafe - Times Square June 4, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images)
Richie Havens performs at the ‘Woodstock 40th Anniversary’ Blu-Ray release party at Hard Rock Cafe – Times Square June 4, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (AP) — Richie Havens, who sang and strummed for a sea of people at Woodstock, has died of a heart attack Monday, his family said in a statement. He was 72.  Havens, a folk singer and guitarist, was the first performer at the three-day 1969 Woodstock Festival. He returned to the site during the 40th anniversary in 2009.

“Everything in my life, and so many others, is attached to that train,” he said in a 2009 interview with The Associated Press.  Havens was born in Brooklyn. He was known for his crafty guitar work and cover songs, including his well-received impersonation of Bob Dylan’s “Just Like a Woman.”
The singer’s website said he had kidney surgery years ago and that he never recovered enough to perform concerts like he used to.  Havens performed at Bill Clinton’s presidential Inauguration in 1993. He has released more than 25 albums. His last album was 2008′s “Nobody Left to Crown.”
“I really sing songs that move me,” he said in an interview with The Denver Post. “I’m not in show business; I’m in the communications business. That’s what it’s about for me.”  A public memorial will be planned for a later date.
Below is one of his most popular songs, a cover version of “Here Comes The Sun”:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBbXKsKXyNU&w=420&h=315]
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press via thegrio.com