Some taste of Hip Hop for you

For all those who thought this blog is going to be full of Classics and Rock, this is just to inform you that this forum covers all genres and therefore something to give you a nice taste of Rap music, I choose Eminem to tell you the story of life....

Saw this killer movie 2 years back called "Eight Mile" starring Eminem and featuring songs and music done by himself...

Tells you the story of a guy who is white and wants to produce nice Rap music but the circuit is being dominated by the blacks.. well, this ain't said here to offend anybody or something, just narrating the story as the critics did..

Rap music was originated side by side of Hip hop as a musical genre which developed alongside hip hop culture, and is commonly based on concepts of looping, rapping, freestyling, DJing, scratching, sampling and beatboxing. The music is used to express concerns of political, social, and personal issues. Hip hop began in the Bronx in New York City in the 1970s, primarily among African Americans, with some Jamaican immigrant influence. The term rap is often used synonymously with hip hop, however, the latter denotes the practices of an entire subculture.

Tenacious D

The first time I saw a movie called "The School of Rock" in 2005, I didnt knew Jack black was an actual rocker from US of A.
I realized this fact when I googled it later to find out more of his movies.... and it showed me results featuring him and his band "Tenacious D" .. therefore I realized he is a far more better Singer than his acting and believe me, he is a phenomenal actor too...

This one is one of his best songs that I like, and this one is called "Tenacious D - Tribute"... I also liked their Video released in 2001 on SONY Music.

Please open this video by "Right Click - Open in new window" and please feel free to comment your feedback on this blog after you see the video.

Tenacious D - Tribute

Cheers!
Sam!

The temperature's rising everyday....

1 Annual event. 7 Finalists. Who has the most ???

ITV's property X-factor is getting higher in ratings and even the web service getting million hits everyday for finding out what's next and what's new??

Let us cross our fingers and pray for all of them to get their best shot in the final.

• Olly
• Jamie
• Danyl
• Joe
• Lloyd
• Stacey
• John & Edward

But with stakes rising on Olly, it becomes more obvious what the number of votes are going to do.... Any guesses guys???

That's right! Make more money for ITV through Talk-Talk, the title Sponsor for the sizzling hot property on TV right now.

Cheers!
Sam

November 09 UK Chart Top

Westlife has come to UK Charts Top 2 this week (1st Nov-8th Nov'09) with their track 'What about Now' in their 10th Album together with Sony Music Entertainment UK Ltd...

What's the irony???

Chris Daughtery ranks at 39 in the same week and if you compare his version with the Westlife's version, you'll find Chris Daughtery's version of the track much better and sounds so much great than all these Westlife guys combined together....

Wanna compare yourself??

Check out:
Westlife Version:    vs     Chris Daughtry Version

I feel Daughtry has done more justice to the song keeping less of himself and more of the cause in the song.

That's what real music is all about right?

Cheers!
Sam

Stephen Gately

Stephen Patrick David Gately (17 March 1976 - 10 October 2009) was an Irish pop singer, writer and actor, who, with Ronan Keating, was one of two lead singers in the boy band Boyzone. All of the band's studio albums hit number one in the UK, their third and last being their most successful internationally. He had a Top 10 solo album in 2000, after the band's initial breakup. Gately went on to appear variously in stage productions and on television programmes as well recording further solo material. In 2008, he rejoined his bandmates as Boyzone reformed for a series of concerts and recordings.
Gately wed Andrew Cowles, first in a commitment ceremony in Las Vegas in 2003 and more formally in a civil partnership ceremony in London in 2006.
After success with Boyzone, the band decided in 2000 to move on to solo projects. Gately was the first with his debut solo single titled New Beginning and later a debut solo album of the same name.
The album New Beginning included 12 brand new tracks including a version of the classic "Bright Eyes" which he recorded for the soundtrack to the new TV version of Watership Down. He also became the voice of one of the characters ('Blackavar') which was created to look like him.
On 29 May 2000, the single "New Beginning" was released and reached number #3 in the UK charts. Two weeks later the album was released and also entered the charts.
The second single taken from the album was "I Believe". Released on 2 October 2001 this song also featured on the soundtrack to the film Billy Elliot and just missed the UK top ten, peaking at #11. Gately was inspired to record this track after he had seen the film. He attended the premieres of the film both at the Edinburgh Film Festival and at the Empire Theatre in Leicester Square, along with the actors from the film including Julie Walters and Jamie Bell. In May 2001, Stephen's third single, "Stay", was released and reached #13 in the UK chart. That month, with his single still on the charts, his record company, Polydor, dropped him from their label.
In January 2007, Gately was heard in Horror of Glam Rock, a Doctor Who audio drama produced by Big Finish Productions for BBC7. For this audio play, Gately recorded an original song, "Children of Tomorrow", with music by Tim Sutton and lyrics by Barnaby Edwards; this was his first solo track since 2001's "Stay".

Michael Bubley

Topping UK Chart numbers right now, its the Michael Bubley's new album "Crazy Love" that is being played by all London leading stations... (I primarily spend so much of my time scanning Capital and MAGIC) that I can vouch on this myself :)

The video looks out for being a simple and sweet one...

Have a look at the official Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AJmKkU5POA

What a wonderful world!

"What a Wonderful World" is a song written by Bob Thiele (as George Douglas) and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released as a single in 1968. Thiele and Weiss were both prominent in the music world (Thiele as a producer and Weiss as a composer/performer). Some have suggested that pianist Dana Pelkie collaborated on the song using "George Douglas" as a pseudonym, but this has never been confirmed. This pseudonym is also known to relate to Thiele.

Found these 2 versions of songs online:

Louis Armstrong's original one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnRqYMTpXHc

Rod Stevart, live at Royal Albert:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmUmhFyic9A

This track was also used as a background track in many movies since then, including 2006, in Disney and Pixar's animated movie called "CARS"

Somewhere over the rainbow

This is a lovely ballad written by E.Y. Harburg and composed by Harold Arlen in 1939. since then, over 20 artistes have sung it, including Cliff Richard, Eric Clapton, Jason Castro, Norah Jones, Eva Cassidy, Jeff Beck, Nina Hagen and others..

This version is by late Israel Kamakawiwo'Ole 'IZ' from Hawai'i (May 20, 1959 – June 26, 1997)

I found his version, a nice simple video which truly carried the theme of the song forward, in his lovely voice and the guitar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ltAGuuru7Q

Here I am also giving the lyrics just in case if you wanna humm along with it:

Somewhere over the rainbow Way up high, There's a land that I heard of Once in a lullaby. Somewhere over the rainbow Skies are blue, And the dreams that you dare to dream Really do come true. Someday I'll wish upon a star And wake up where the clouds are far Behind me. Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Somewhere over the rainbow Bluebirds fly. Birds fly over the rainbow. Why then, oh why can't I? If happy little bluebirds fly Beyond the rainbow Why, oh why can't I?

Take on Beatboxing

Beatboxing is a form of vocal percussion which primarily involves the art of producing drum beats, rhythm, and musical sounds using one's mouth, lips, tongue, voice, and more. It may also involve singing, vocal imitation of turntablism, the simulation of horns, strings, and other musical instruments. Beatboxing is connected with hip hop culture although it is not limited to hip hop music.

A really nice example of Beatboxing:

This guy is a 21 year old Beatboxer from france:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikkx6a8WzOM

A happy note! :)

I choose to start my blogging life with one of my fav track: "Don't Worry Be Happy", and its creator Bobby McFerrin.
The track was released in September 1988, when I was just 6 years old and just started developing my unconscious inclination towards Music.
The lovely track by Bobby became the first a cappella song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a position it held for two weeks. On the UK Singles Chart, the song reached number 2 during its fifth week on the chart. At the 1989 Grammy Awards, "Don't Worry Be Happy" won the awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. The song's title is taken from a famous quote by Meher Baba, an Indian mystic and sage (1894-1969) who used to frequently tell this the people he met.
The original music video stars Robin Williams and Bill Irwin.
The "instrumentals" in the a cappella song are entirely overdubbed voice parts and other sounds made by McFerrin, using no instruments at all.

for people who haven't heared the track, please find a link below of the best quality video i could get my hands on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE9ZXh0Fuwk&feature=related

So it was more than Music for me...it was a universe inside a universe to explore a capella music.

Courtesy, Blue Note Label Records to let me use some inside information.