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
Posts published in “Pop/R&B/Dance”
(Photo courtesy of Mark Seliger for TIME)
Power couple Jay-Z and Beyoncé have recently been making lots of headlines lately, and now the rapper is gracing the cover of Time. Both he and wife Beyoncé have been named by the magazine as two of the world’s most influential people.
The annual feature lists 100 of the world’s most prominent figures, in no particular order, who have made the biggest global impact over the past year. The issue, which includes Jay-Z on one of seven covers, also provides brief profiles that capture the essence of each qualifier.
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Amber Holcomb, one of the Top 5 left in the “American Idol” competition, and often called a “young Whitney Houston” by the judges, has been in the bottom two several times this season. 
But after weeks of pop-tinged performances, last night she showed off her jazz chops again (the first time was in the Las Vegas sudden death rounds where she sang “My Funny Valentine“) and did an amazing vocal on the Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman standard “What Are You Doing For The Rest of Your Life?” Hopefully her talent will be rewarded and she will be one of the Top 4 after tonight’s elimination episode on FOX.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
NEW YORK — R&B star Chaka Khan will be inducted into the Apollo Theater’s hall of fame. The theater announced Thursday that Patti LaBelle and Mary J. Blige will perform in Khan’s honor at its June 10 New York gala.
The annual event raises funds for the Apollo’s education and community outreach programs. Khan and Blige received a Grammy Award together in 2008 for “Disrespectful.” Singer-songwriter Lionel Richie and the late Etta James were inducted last year into the Apollo Legends Hall of Fame.
Other previous inductees include LaBelle, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Aretha Franklin, to name just a few. Sarah Jessica Parker will present this year’s corporate award to Time Warner Inc.
via Chaka Khan Chosen For Apollo Legends Hall Of Fame.
As Beyoncé kicks off her Mrs. Carter Show tour in Belgrade, Serbia tonight, she’s announcing a new partnership with Goodwill for her North American tour dates.
Goodwill will host donation drives for clothing, electronics and other small household goods at all her stops across America. The money earned from the sale of these donated items will “help people with disabilities and disadvantages, and anyone facing challenges to finding employment,” read a press release.
“Goodwill helps people get back to work by providing education, job training and placement,” said Beyoncé. “I wanted to team up with an organization that puts people first and works every day to help them improve and re-establish their lives.”
In other related news, the ESSENCE Festival headliner is also teaming up with “Miss a Meal” to fight hunger. “Miss a Meal,” run by Houston’s Bread of Life, encourages people to skip meals and donate the money to help the hungry. Currently, Bread of Life, serves 14,000 meals a month to locals in Houston.
“I was 13 and my sister Solange was eight when we started donating and serving meals to the homeless after church,” said Beyoncé in a statement. “There were people from all walks of life, even children, who needed a meal. We learned that we are all three paychecks away from poverty. It was a lesson in humility for all of us.”
article by Derrick Bryson Taylor via essence.com
YouTube hopes users will get on the good foot with its new James Brown channel, featuring, concert footage, testimonials — and, of course, opportunities to purchase DVDs and other merchandise, reports Deadline.com.
The channel (youtube.com/jamesbrownofficial and shoutfactory.com/jamesbrown) is a partnership between the James Brown Estate and label Shout Factory, which distributes the Godfather of Soul’s properties.
“These digital destinations will continue to evolve as we program content specific to key events as well as discover and add new video assets, leveraging Shout Factory’s unique content curation capabilities,” says Jeffrey Thompson, Shout Factory’s VP of digital strategy and business development.
The launch coincides with the 45th anniversary of Brown’s Boston concert following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Many historians believe that the concert helped to prevent riots from breaking out as they had in several other cities.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P318KJwNx-E&w=560&h=315]
original article via eurweb.com
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7acuT6Sydc4&w=560&h=315]
American Idol contestant Candice Glover took to the stage Wednesday night and floored the judges, audience members and millions of TV viewers with her unforgettable performance. The six-remaining contestants filled the two-hour long show with performances that prompted mixed reviews from Idol judges — but Glover’s closing act scored a standing ovation from the panel.
Glover chose to sing “Lovesong” by The Cure and Randy Jackson proclaimed it “one of the greatest performances in the 12 years of American Idol.” He later clarified his statement and said it was the best performance in any singing competition show ever.
The same awestruck emotions were echoed by his colleagues. Country star Keith Urban bowed down to Glover’s feet and Mariah Carey walked to the stage to shower the contestant with glitter.
Boosting support from past contestants
Twitter also provided rave reviews of Glover’s performance including supportive tweets from former Idolcontestants Jordin Sparks and Jennifer Hudson. The Oscar-winning actress responded to a retweet, which included a video of Glover’s act, and said: “This girl is a beast! They not ready.”
The Andantes, from left, Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow-Tate and Louvain Demps posing during a visit to Motown Historical Museum in Detroit. In their 70s, the unsung backing group who sang on thousands of Motown songs is finally getting acclaim for its contributions to the ground-breaking, chart-topping music made in Detroit in the 1960s and early ’70s before the label moved to Los Angeles. The trio gathered recently to see the exhibit, “Motown Girl Groups: The Grit, the Glamour, the Glory.” The Andantes are featured, with equal billing, alongside the Supremes, Vandellas, Marvelettes and Velvelettes. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Demps was no mere fan visiting what’s now the Motown Historical Museum. She was one of the women singing the angelic, high harmonies on the recording — and hearing it in Hitsville USA’s Studio A was too much. “It’s my heart, it’s my heart,” she said. For Demps and her fellow Andantes, Jackie Hicks and Marlene Barrow-Tate, moments like these have been private, since the wider world knew only their voices, not their faces. But now in their 70s, the unsung backing group who sang on thousands of Motown songs is finally getting acclaim for its contributions to the groundbreaking, chart-topping music made in Detroit in the 1960s and early ’70s before the label moved to Los Angeles.
The trio gathered recently to see the exhibit, “Motown Girl Groups: The Grit, the Glamour, the Glory,” which will run through the summer. The Andantes are featured — with equal billing — alongside the Supremes, Vandellas, Marvelettes and Velvelettes. The joyous but rare reunion was made possible by a sad event the day before: the funeral of former Miracles member Bobby Rogers. For the Andantes, it made their meeting more poignant.
“It is unfortunate that so many are gone and thank God that we are still here — all of us — to be able to see this and see our dream come true,” said Barrow-Tate, who still lives in Detroit, as does Hicks. The two are retired, but Demps, who lives near Atlanta, still sings solo or with others.
The Andantes were the go-to backup singers for most Motown artists, including Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops and the girl groups themselves. “Save the Children” came from Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” one of Motown’s greatest — and last — albums recorded in Detroit. The Andantes sang backup on many of the record’s cuts — including the title track — and even traveled with Gaye to his hometown of Washington, D.C., in 1972 to perform the disc in its entirety at the Kennedy Center. Motown Museum officials say the trio, almost always anonymously, sang on more songs than any other group at Motown. They were the female and vocal equivalent to the Funk Brothers, the label’s house band that itself was largely anonymous in its time but gained acclaim through the 2002 documentary film, “Standing in the Shadows of Motown.”
The trio gathered recently to see the exhibit, “Motown Girl Groups: The Grit, the Glamour, the Glory,” which will run through the summer. The Andantes are featured — with equal billing — alongside the Supremes, Vandellas, Marvelettes and Velvelettes. The joyous but rare reunion was made possible by a sad event the day before: the funeral of former Miracles member Bobby Rogers. For the Andantes, it made their meeting more poignant.
“It is unfortunate that so many are gone and thank God that we are still here — all of us — to be able to see this and see our dream come true,” said Barrow-Tate, who still lives in Detroit, as does Hicks. The two are retired, but Demps, who lives near Atlanta, still sings solo or with others.
The Andantes were the go-to backup singers for most Motown artists, including Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops and the girl groups themselves. “Save the Children” came from Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” one of Motown’s greatest — and last — albums recorded in Detroit. The Andantes sang backup on many of the record’s cuts — including the title track — and even traveled with Gaye to his hometown of Washington, D.C., in 1972 to perform the disc in its entirety at the Kennedy Center. Motown Museum officials say the trio, almost always anonymously, sang on more songs than any other group at Motown. They were the female and vocal equivalent to the Funk Brothers, the label’s house band that itself was largely anonymous in its time but gained acclaim through the 2002 documentary film, “Standing in the Shadows of Motown.”
Jennifer Hudson and Octavia Spencer (“The Help”) have been tapped to star in the soon to premiere Lifetime movie event “Call Me Crazy: A Five Film.” Following the success of the first “Five’ feature (Alicia Keys), “Call Me Crazy” brings together an all-star ensemble cast with five interwoven stories about how everlasting bonds of love and family can overcome life’s most challenging hurdles.
Jennifer Hudson will star in the short “Maggie,” which focuses on a female veteran (Hudson) that returns home from war to her son and father (Ernie Hudson), only to have her life shattered by the onset of posttraumatic stress disorder, through which her lawyer, “Lucy,” helps her.
“Through the five shorts named after each title character — Lucy, Eddie, Allison, Grace and Maggie – powerful relationships built on hope and triumph raise a new understanding of what happens when a loved one struggles with mental illness,” reports Lifetime.
Frank Ocean (Band of Outsiders Tumblr/Instagram)
Frank Ocean has already taken the music industry by storm and is now moving on to fashion. Aside from blending sick urban style and high-end couture, (think of his sleek and chic navy blue Dior Homme Spring 2013 look he rocked at the Grammys) Ocean has been hobnobbing with industry leaders like designers Riccardo Tisci, Raf Simons, and Karl Lagerfeld. Ocean also attended Fashion Week in Paris chilling at the Dior and Givenchy fashion shows and striking a pose for GQ Magazine.
Now the “Forrest Gump” singer is headlining in his first fashion campaign as the latest subject in Band of Outsiders’ ongoing Polaroid series. Ocean joins the likes of Josh Brolin and Michelle Williams who also modeled for the brands new segment. The sun-kissed images were shot at the Los Angeles Times building by creative director Scott Sternberg. In the hazy shots Ocean rocks the brand’s Spring 2013 collection, featuring a dapper white shirt, black trousers, and a tuxedo jacket with a satin lapel.
Stay tuned to the Band of Outsiders’ Tumblr and Instagram pages as new images from the shoot continue to pop up.
article via Billboard.com
Related Post: Oprah, Frank Ocean Among GLAAD Award Nominees
Now the “Forrest Gump” singer is headlining in his first fashion campaign as the latest subject in Band of Outsiders’ ongoing Polaroid series. Ocean joins the likes of Josh Brolin and Michelle Williams who also modeled for the brands new segment. The sun-kissed images were shot at the Los Angeles Times building by creative director Scott Sternberg. In the hazy shots Ocean rocks the brand’s Spring 2013 collection, featuring a dapper white shirt, black trousers, and a tuxedo jacket with a satin lapel.
Stay tuned to the Band of Outsiders’ Tumblr and Instagram pages as new images from the shoot continue to pop up.
article via Billboard.com
Related Post: Oprah, Frank Ocean Among GLAAD Award Nominees