My Favorite Female Artists: Katy Perry

           Katy Perry or Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson is a super fun artist.  From whip-cream shooting out of her bra to showing too much cleavage to Elmo she is always surprising.  Even in her personal life when she up-and-wed Russell Brand and then got a quickie divorce she never hid from the paparazzi, she dyed her hair blue-green and looked amazing.  She comes from a religious family and a gospel background and this gives her good vocal range in her songs.  From the first time I heard "I Kissed a Girl" and found out she wasn't actually gay I loved her gutsy attitude. Her recent t.v. appearance on the show Raising Hope was hysterical.  If you haven't seen the episode look it up, she's the jail guard with the curly blond hair.  Her music-video for "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" is also super funny.  In the video she's a teenager with head-gear and glasses.  There's a party and has a bunch of cameos, including Kenny G.  I liked how the party had an 80's feel but modern technology, and coinciding with the subjects we look at in class, "Pictures of last night ended up online I'm screwed!"

Catharine

     

Mr Porter aka Kon Artis Leaves D12

It's no surprise that D12 has been off the radar since Proof passed. Bizarre recently talked about leaving D12 and now Mr. Porter makes it official he is also done with D12.

"I love every moment I have shared on this planet and with the people I shared it with I will always love the legacy I was apart off #D12," he Tweeted. "I got nothing but love for my crew I am growing and excelling as u should as an artist i hope you all support that!"

Mr. Porter, who clarified that he would maintain his role as Eminem's hypeman, wished the other D12 members the best in the future. "I want nothing but the best for McVay, D12, Kuniva and Bizarresworld what proof created was beautiful and we had a great ride! Love N light"

Mr. Porter indicated that his "Kon Artis" persona had "died," perhaps symbolic of his departure from the multi-platinum collective.
D12's last album was 2004's multiplatinum D12World.

D12 was such a great rap group. Together they accomplished so much and had so many great songs and albums but the unfortunate death of rapper Proof, Eminems child hood friend and best friend really tore them apart and the group was never the same. Now the group is dwindling rapper by rapper. To me this group will never be the same even if they replace the ones who had left.  

-Ryan- 

Does anybody else remember this song?

I was jamming to Pandora this morning and the song Angel by Amanda Perez came on my playlist. I was shocked because I loved this song when it came out in 2003. The song is about her losing a love and she's simply asking God for him to send her an angel to save her from the heartache. She's purely heartbroken from being alone. Amanda's soft spoken singing voice is perfect over the light piano and it truly makes the song more emotional. The way she talks about the pain that she is in makes it easy to relate to her; even if you haven't had your heart broken. I know that for me I always listened to this song and I felt that I was the one being hurt. I could understand what she was going through. She goes on to talk about how her best wasn't enough. This is definitely a topic that everyone knows. It does not just have to be about love. How many times have you tried and tried at something, like school work, and your absolute best essay still only earned you a C? Frustrating right? Not the worst feeling because you're not emotionally attached to an essay obviously, but it still makes you feel bad about yourself. Now try to relate to how she must feel. She gave all she could give to a person who she cared deeply for and they took advantage of her. She sings about how she "couldn't eat" and "couldn't sleep". I could not imagine myself being in a situation like this but I surely feel her pain in this song. It seems as though even if the person she loved hurt and lied to her, she still wanted just to feel their touch again. This must be the worst feeling in the world. I know that if I were going through a break up like this one, I would want to write a song too.


Listen!
Angel by Amanda Perez:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOQkE4p4oFE

-Noelle

      There are a few new rappers in 2012 that can carry the rap torch. Instead of jay-z, lil wayne and kanye west look out for these five new rappers. Kendrick Lamar Straight out of Compton, Calif., Kendrick Lamar is one of the few rappers hailing from the West Coast who isn’t gang-affiliated. Instead of gangsta rhymes, Kendrick Lamar uses superior lyricism to tell engaging stories on the mic. Big K.R.I.T The Mississippi native released several impressive mixtapes that include K.R.I.T. Wuz Here and Return of 4eva. His sound is reminiscent of Southern hip-hop from the ’90s. Future received national attention with his engaging verse on YC’s ”Racks.” He also released the popular club anthems “Tony Montana” and ”Magic.” Stalley A member of Rick Ross’s Maybach Music Group, Stalley has a chance to bring attention to the Cleveland hip-hop scene that has remained quiet since the days of Bone Thugs. Stalley’s laid-back flow is often laced with consciousness and black power ethos. And 2 Chainz released several hit records as a member of Playaz Circle. But since going solo, 2 Chainz has built an impressive following after releasing his mixtape Codeine Cowboy. He’s looking for a resurgence on the national hip-hop scene in 2012. Check them out on YouTube.
Ryan

How much do bands really earn?

So while I am still on the RIAA / recording industry rant train, today’s post will be an outlook on how much income a typical band really earns. When you think of hearing a band getting signed to a major label, you’d probably think, “man, they finally made it and now they’re going to be rich and famous.” In reality, only the latter may be true, and the former will heavily depend on many factors. These factors include legal fees, producers, management, distributors, and the record label.

Artist royalties are roughly 12-14%, and big singers/bands can get 20% of the suggested retail CD price which is usually around $15-16. A quarter percent of the suggested retail price returns to the record label that, which in turn charges the artist for the physical cases that their CDs are in. Distributors will take up to 24%, but for larger acts, it might only be 14%. Songwriters and publishers take up to 9 cents for every copy of the song sold if the artist has them write their songs. Personal managers will take about 15% of the artist’s earnings, and business managers will take about 5%. Then there is the record advance in which record labels give the artist to pay for whatever expenses to record the actual album. This advance must be paid back by the artist regardless how well (or how bad) the record does. 

There are definitely more factors that eat up the income pie, but for the sake of not turning this blog post into a big wall of text: Record labels reap about 63% of the total income, distributors take around 24%, while the actual band or group gets 13%. So in retrospect, each member of the band or group made about a third as much as they would have working normal jobs at minimum wage, except they got to ride in a tour bus for a few months.

-John

My Favorite Female Artists: Taylor Swift

            Taylor Swift is my favorite country pop singer.  When she came onto the scene I thought her music was a little too young for me, but when she released Speak Now in 2010 I was hooked.  I immediately loved the song "Mean".  She is known for coyly putting secret meanings in her lyrics.  I'm not going to presume to know who "Mean" is about, but i certainly love the gist of the song.  It has been widely publicized that the song "Dear John" is about John Mayer and their split but now it's being said that "The Story of Us" is also about him and an interaction they had at the CMT awards.  The song "Back to December" is about her lost love with Taylor Swift.  I enjoy how personal her songs are, it's very easy to relate to.  

             More recently she did two songs for The Hunger Games Official Movie Soundtrack, "Safe & Sound" featuring The Civil Wars and "Eyes Open".  I youtubed the video of "Safe & Sound" and it is excellent, very reminiscent of The Hunger Games Trilogy.  I would definitely recommend checking it out. 

                                                               Thanks for reading, Catharine

Honey Cocaine- Shot!

If anyone is familiar with Tyga, they would probably know that he has a new rap artist named Honey Cocaine. She's small in stature, but don't be fooled because the bars she brings are far from miniature. Although I haven't heard much of her music, I do know this: early last week she was shot in the arm at Tyga's show in Omaha, Nebraska. The story "supposedly" is that Tyga was enraged after a person in the audience began throwing objects on the stage. He asked the audience who threw it as a response to the rude act. After the show, Tyga and his entourage were followed by a four-door black sedan and police say Tyga's vehicle had several bullet holes. Although Honey Cocaine was shot, she later Tweeted that she was alright and still alive. Derrick Lowe was also shot and just like Honey, he was okay.
My question is this: Why did it come to this? Were the people throwing things during the concert even the same people that shot Honey and Derrick? If so, what angered them so much that they would risk taking a life? It's horrific to think about. It's events like this that give Rap and Hip-Hop a bad rep. It's not all thugs and gangs and shooting and drugs (although her name being Honey Cocaine isn't really helping). The time-line of rap music is a sad story, in my opinion. From Murs rapping about "Dark Skinned White Girls" bringing attention to white girls who appreciate the African American culture, black girls who don't "fit into" their stereotype, and mixed girls who have an identity crisis-- to Waka Flocka Flame saying the same ideas in rotation ultimately saying nothing but, it has an "ill beat", is a shame.





 Honey Cocaine Interview:
http://rapfix.mtv.com/2012/03/20/tyga-artist-honey-cocaine-shot-concert/

Murs' "Dark Skinned White Girls" Lyrics:
http://www.lyrics007.com/Murs%20Lyrics/Dark%20Skinned%20White%20Girls%20Lyrics.html

Waka Flocka on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waka_Flocka_Flame

-Noelle