Last week you may have noticed that Music News Monday was M.I.A but thankfully I am pleased to announce that this week it returns. Apologies to those who expected to see it last week but im only human and sometimes my schedule is manic which means I have to take a break from writing. That and the fact that I am quite lazy, anywho this week sees news from Monica, Ja Rule, Lil Kim, R Kelly, Nelly and Jeremih grace this feature. Also I have added the new music video from former X-Factor hopeful Rachel Adedeji.
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Ja Rule
Another week goes by and news of another rapper heading to Jail surfaces. This time it is the turn of the musically absent rapper Ja Rule. He is to serve time in the big house after agreeing to a plea deal following his 2007 arrest for weapons possession. The 34 year old was pulled over by the police after a performance with Lil Wayne at New York’s Beacon Theater. Yes that’s right he is being sent down for the same thing Wayne got sent down for however Ja is to serve a two year sentence after copping this plea bargain in contrast to the year long sentence that was handed to liltunechi.
“Because of your guilty plea here today, you’ll have a record of having committed a violent felony. This is a very serious matter,” Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Richard Carruthers told the platinum-selling MC.
He could have faced up to 15 years in prison, if convicted on the gun charge. “This isn’t a good day,” said Rule as he left the court. He is due back February 9, according to the AP.
Though it may be right to send him to jail for his wrong doings I do somewhat feel he has been unfairly treated. I mean Lil Wayne was arrested at the same time for the same thing yet he only served a 8 months stint at Rikers Island due to good behaviour while Rule will have to serve double that. Maybe there is more to the story which justifies why Ja has been given a longer sentence but until I hear the full story as it stands things just don’t seem to be fair.
Lil Kim
Earlier this week the Queen B herself sat down with Angie Martinez on Hot 97 where discussed her nonsense beef with my girl Nicki Minaj. She didn’t necessarily take stab at Minaj but rather simply made it clear why she has a problem with the Harjuku Barbie. With all what she said she did state that she would still be open to working with Minaj in the future but only for the right money ($7 milion) and the song would have to be for Kim’s record. A little tongue and cheek if anything because we all know that this will not happen anytime soon.
While she was at the station she also took the time to elaborate on the issues she has with both Diddy and Faith Evans. Have a listen to what she had to say below.
Lil Kim On Nicki Minaj
Lil Kim On Diddy
Lil Kim On Faith Evans
Audio Courtesy of ThatGrapeJuice
Monica
After finding success both critically and commercially with her recently released sixth album Still Standing Monica has revealed that she has no plans to take a back seat and is ready to ride this wave of success. She has announced that she has already begun work on her next album which she expects to release in the spring of next year. On top of that she has secret plans to release a Christmas Holiday album come this time next year. More Monica in 2011 is definitely going to happen so let’s get ready.
Monica has been logging studio time with her cousin Polow Da Don, creating the follow-up to this year’s Still Standing. “I’ve only worked with Polow so far, but I try to get with one or two producers and pretty much create the meat, and then you pretty much get the rest of it done around the center of the album,” she explained.
While an album title has yet to be determined, she’s mapped out a recording schedule. “I really want to come up with the album title very soon, so that it will have direction like Still Standing did,” she said. “I hope to at least have the title in January and a single in maybe March and an album in maybe July. It would have to be something pretty drastic to take me off my path. But if nothing changes, that’s the plan.”
After she finishes this album, a collection of Christmas songs could be next. “I’m looking forward to something like that, something that’s kinda mixed with a little bit of Christian inspirational things with some of the older songs that we all know.” Source
As much as I love the fact the she is prepared to please her fans and keep this good form going into 2011 I just hope that she doesn’t churn out an album that seems forced or rushed because that would be more detrimental to her than making fans wait a year or two for the next record.
Jeremih
Now at this point I was supposed to present the new music video by Jeremih featuring 50 Cent ‘Down On Me’ however I am unable to do so due to the video that I found not being able to be played after I embedded it so until I find a video that works properly I thought I’d still include this clip I came across last week or the week before.
This little kid Keenan Cahill has done his visuals for the video with assistance from the songs collaborator 50 Cent. This just goes to show how funny 50 cent can be. If you follow him on twitter then you will already know that he is probably one of the funniest people on there but if not check this lil vid out.
p.s back when the video was released it caused a stir and a huge buzz around the song. Such is the popularity of this video ‘Down On Me’ jumped from 25 to 11 on the iTunes chart overnight.
Nelly
This past week saw footage of an interview Nelly had when he sat down with the guys over at This Is 50 where he spoke on a range of topics including album sales, acting and how he stays motivated to create music.
With 35 million album sales I guess people have to give credit where credit is due however I would like to stress that Nelly shouldn’t get caught up in his past successes as the consumers of the music industry are very fickle. It’s not about what you have sold its about what you are delivering at present and the music you are producing currently which will help you stay relevant and on top today. With over 2.5 million singles of his recent hit ‘Just A Dream’ sold its clear that he is still capable of pulling in those big numbers so here’s hoping he stays successful.
R Kelly
With the release of his tenth Studio Album Love Letter, R&B B crooner R. Kelly has unleashed part one and two of his Love Letter: The Documentary In the clip, the pied-piper of R&B talks about the making of Love Letter, the Album, the relationship between music and emotions and much more. . He discusses his thoughts and feelings behind the songs and the album as a whole.
I need to highlight that this album is actually very good. If you’re an old school Motown soul at heart and enjoy the good music of musical greats such as Marvin Gaye, Smoky Robinson, Stevie Wonder and the King of pop himself Michael Jackson then this album is definitely for you.
Rachel Adedeji
For those who watch the ITV talent search competition The X-Factor this one is for you. Do you remember Rachel Adedeji from last year? She and Joe McElderry were really close friends….. oh yh now you remember her don’t you. Well a few days ago she released the video for her debut single ‘Follow The DJ’.
The song is very different from what we have come to here from other X-Factor artists which is a good thing I suppose. I guess you don’t want to be seen to be the same as everybody else however that being said the same is quite similar to the a number of tracks that have been released over the last year as it has that Euro dance pop feel to it.
I must admit I was majorly surprised to hear this type of song from her but again surprise can be a good thing, that way people can’t pigeon hole you into what they think you should be. Rachel had in my opinion one of the best female vocals on the show last year. Her voice was very different from the rest and it was distinctive. When you heard her sing you immediately knew it was her. Below is a video of her singing at bootcamp followed by the video for her new single. Check the both out.
p.s This clip of her at bootcamp was my favourite performance of hers during the whole series, I was in love with her voice from then on. It was simple yet effective, the deep tone to her voice it was got me.
Rachel Adedeji – Follow The DJ
As much as I really want Rachel to succeed I can’t help but worry for her because the single is scheduled for release in March 2011 but yet the video has already been released to the public a full 3 months before release. I hope it’s not a case of fans getting bored of the song by the time it is released. My suggestion would be to move the release date up to the end of January or 1st week of Feb and really go into promotion overdrive from now until then. This would give her the best chance of the single doing reasonably well on the charts.
About DJB
DJB is the name and Yin&Yang is the game. I've been playing this game from almost the birth of Y&Y and haven't got bored yet. Infact i'd say i'm just getting started. For more info regarding myself head over to the Meet The Family page, if not then just tweet me @imDJB.