This year's Grammy's were all about Adele and her smash album 21. The singer took home 5 awards, including Song of the Year, and Album of the Year. She also took to the stage to perform for the first time in months after dealing with medical issues. »»
This years Grammy Nominations Concert will be held on November 30th, hosted by LL Cool J. Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry are set to be presenting some of the nominations. There will also be performances by Lady Gaga, Lupe Fiasco, Ludacris, Rihanna, and U »»
So lately I've sort of rediscovered watching videos on BET, MTV and VH-1.
Wait let me clarify; BETJ, MTV Hits and VH-1 Classic.
Y'see, I'm nocturnal, and have been for years, and generally speaking, there's not much good on television in the wee hours of night. But while surfing the mid-300s I actually stumbled across BETJ's Soul Sessions which, according to the program description, offers "live performances and classic music videos." In reality, it offers up a handful of videos by artists who skew a tad beyond BET's youthful target audience.
Soul Sessions is kind of dope. I mean, I get to see videos I wouldn't be ashamed to watch or have on if someone walked into my room. But the selection is, um... well, dreadful. You're pretty much guaranteed to see Mary J's video for "Fine" in every episode. And heaven help you if you get two episodes back-to-back; you might be lucky to see ten different videos in that two-hour span.
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Thirsty Fish - Testing the Waters
Bell Rang Records (2008)
Hip-hop / Rap
In May of last year, I was able to catch a Thirsty Fish live show at a small club in West Hollywood. Featuring the core as well as the group's extended family, I wasn't disappointed, and even if I had been disappointed, Mike Eagle got me in for free and bought me a beer, so it wouldn't have all been for naught. While it wasn't a huge event, I got an idea of just how hard-working these guys are, as well as how much better they are than most of their peers.
After the show, I packed myself into the back of Mike Eagle's Nissan and hit the town with the crew. While there were no bottles of Cristal, clubs with flying buttresses and chandeliers, or scantily clad hood rats involved (thus dashing to pieces any preconceived notions that I had of how rappers get their party on), I had a pretty good time hanging out at a warehouse party across from the Staples Center, drinking free, unlimited filthy Pabst Blue Ribbon in a can and listening to various ciphers and obscure '80s New Wave hits. Afterwards we hit up the nearby 24-hour McDonald's drive-thru, where I tried one of those fantastic, limited-edition and regionally EXCLUSIVE Angus Third Pounders (I believe it was the Bacon & Cheese, though I would later on in that trip enjoy the Mushroom & Swiss much more when I had it in San Diego while visiting That_Bootleg_Guy). I also recall Psychosiz ordering the Apple Dippers and the lady at the window being exceptionally crotchety, perhaps upon realizing that we were a car full of various minorities, and that we were most likely up to no good.
And here we are, almost a year later, and said crew has finally dropped their debut effort. When Mike Eagle made a post on the Super-Secret Writer Forums several weeks back looking for volunteers to review the album, the hamster in my wheel started running and I figured, why not make it a party? The panel for this group review will include myself, Mathan Erhardt and recently-resurrected (albeit in limited capacity) and aforementioned Aaron "That_Bootleg_Guy", as well as EXCLUSIVE commentary (which you'll not find anywhere else) from all three Thirsty Fish emcees. Shenanigans!
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