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nas

Best MC’s Of All Time- A Candid Discussion

by Ryan Shea

Jay-Z, Notorious BIG, Nas, Manhattan Digest, Dussel Has Friends

Who Is The Greatest MC Of All Time?

Such as the endless debate of which came first, the chicken or the egg, is equal if not less than the debate over who is the greatest MC of all time in the hip hop game.  Long talked about for almost thirty years now, hip hop heads from across the world have spoken their mind on who they personally think is the best for whatever particular reason they think it might be.  Factors like longevity, impact, the ability to spit ill shit on a dime and overall persona are just some of the reasons why students of the hip hop university we all know and love claim why their personal number one is the best.  So what happens when you get three eager and green students together to discuss this epic battle of King King in the hip hop world? [Read more…] about Best MC’s Of All Time- A Candid Discussion

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, MUSIC Tagged With: 50 cent, andre 3000, big l, dussel has friends, eminem, hip hop, jay-z, kanye west, lauryn hill, manhattan digest, mc, nas, ryan shea

Hip-Hop Icon Nature on his past, present and future with DCM

by Ryan Shea

Credit to: Deep Concepts Media
Credit to: Deep Concepts Media

 

Hip-Hop icon Nature has been in the game far longer than many rappers even dream of having that kind of longevity.   A key and pivotal figure of the hip-hop movement of the 90’s, he successfully did what many artists dream to do in securing a number one debut with The Firm’s freshman release of “The Firm: The Album” with AZ and Foxy Brown.  A childhood friend of Nas, he catapulted his career shortly afterwords with the release of “For All Seasons” and has become an important emcee in the game for over two decades.  Now he has exclusively linked up with Long Island hip-hop label Deep Concepts Media and has released the first installment of “Seasons Changed 4” EP Series, produced by a variety of great guys from Little Vic to DJ Concept.  In this exclusive two part interview with Manhattan Digest, Nature sits down with me to discuss his past with The Firm, his relationship with Nas, and his future with DCM.  Check it out.

At what age did you know you wanted to take hip-hop seriously?

I was in love with hip-hop since I was a little kid, from aspects of break dancing to the graffiti and all of that.  What I would do when I would come down to the actual rapping was change the words of the popular song and do my own thing with them.  Around 12 or 13 is when I started to realize I had a knack for this kind of thing.

Who were you influences that inspired you to become a rapper?

When I growing up there wasn’t as many rappers out there as there are today.  So for me it was legends like Run DMC, LL Cool J and the guys like that that were making their mark in the game.  The first hip-hop record that I fell in love with LL himself with “Radio”.

When did things really start making waves for you in the industry?

Well I’m fortunate enough to come in the game with guys like Nas and Track Masters and Dr. Dre and stuff like that.  There was no middle ground for me, it went from just rapping locally to the guys in school and the block and now you are flying out to Miami and LA and doing big things.  It took a while to adjust to that.  I went from the baddest box straight to third base pretty much.

How would you describe your sound overall?

My sound is pretty vintage.  I come from an era where you had to make sense when you rhyme and it isn’t much about the materialistic things that seem to populate the airwaves right now.  Mine is a mix of old and new, beats that I like. I am a fan of what is out today but I came in the game in the 90’s so I am attached to everything that was out in that era.

What was the process of coming into The Firm like?

For me it was cool because I got to go through Nas who was a childhood friend of mine so I didn’t have to go through A&R and all of that.  Any questions that I had I would throw to him, didn’t really deal with the other people.  I didn’t realize how big or how much potential that project had, it was my first real shot.  I understood there was a lot of money put behind this, so each of us really put our best effort forward when it came to making this album and it really came together and the results were just phenomenal when it was released.

How did it feel to have that album hit number one on the Billboard 200?

That was amazing! Everywhere that I went people would recognize me and know certain things and I was like “Whoa! This is crazy!” I didn’t have enough time to adjust to it.  We would go out, make an album and shoot some videos and all of a sudden it was number one.

Check back here tomorrow where he discusses his thoughts on hip-hop today, his new EP and his plans for a hopeful future.  Take a listen to his new EP here and for all things DCM click on this link.

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, MUSIC Tagged With: billboard, billboard hot 200, little vic, nas, nature, run dmc, the firm

Summer Music Festivals 2013- When and Where

by Ryan Shea

For all you music nuts out there, Summer seems to be the one season each year that brings out the best music festivals and the best artists at that.  If you are local to New York, you are in for a treat.  Some of the biggest music festivals are here or making their way through here.  So if you want to find which ones are the best to go to, take a look at the following festivals and see for yourself why music and summer go uber well together like a yummy Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich-

 

Credit to: Governor's Ball Music Festival
Credit to: Governor’s Ball Music Festival

 

GOVERNOR’S BALL- JUNE 7TH-9TH, RANDALL’S ISLAND

This is one that yours truly is beyond excited for.  The event takes place in early June, and this year is featuring the creme de la creme of awesome alternative artists and some of the biggest global superstars in the world.  Going on over at the beautiful Randall’s Island,  the festival highlights artists that have been popular since the early  1980’s.  Which one in particular? That would be Guns N Roses, who are set to perform on the 8th along with other superstars from Kendrick Lamar to Nas.  Opening day highlights Grammy winners Kings Of Leon as well as Feist and Erykah Badu.  Closing day brings in Kanye West as well as The Lumineers, Cold War Kids and Twin Shadown to name a few.  Looks like an amazing three day lineup that I for sure won’t miss.  Tickets are still available via The Governor’s Ball official website.

 

Credit to: Tumblr
Credit to: Tumblr

 VANS WARPED TOUR: JULY 13TH, NASSAU COLISEUM

The Vans Warped Tour is ultimately a celebration for all things alternative.  The tour, going on for over a decade now, highlights some of the best alternative talent on a national level and a local level.  Famed for its “Battle Of The Bands” with founder Kevin Lyman putting out a content for bands to perform at their local venue, it is really the one festival where dreams  can come true for said band.  This year’s highlights include Denver’s very own 3OH3, The Used, Reel Big Fish and more.  Log onto The Vans Warped Tour website for more info.

Credit to: Made Event
Credit to: Made Event

ELECTRIC ZOO: AUGUST 30TH-SEPTEMBER 1ST, RANDALLS ISLAND

Being one of the few festivals that I know of where the only real transportation there is by ferry, the Electric Zoo celebrates all things EDM.  Held at the beautiful Randalls Island right outside of Manhattan, this three day festival plans to host some of the biggest acts in EDM today.  Ones ranging from international superstars like David Guetta, Skrillex and Diplo come to mind for all you big EDM fans that seem to populate a lot of what is popular in music right now. Go the the Made Event homepage to get tickets!

Let’s not forget that the MTV Video Music Awards is finally coming back to New York this summer.  About damn time, I have no idea why it landed in LA in the first place as that show is designed to be here.  Hope everyone goes to at least one of these and has a damn good time!

 

 

 

Filed Under: BREAKING NEWS, ENTERTAINMENT, MUSIC, NEW YORK, U.S. Tagged With: 3oh3, cold war kids, david guetta, denver, diplo, electric zoo, festivals, governor, governors ball, guns n roses, jelly, kanye west, kendrick lamar, kings of leon, nas, nassau coliseum, NEW YORK, peanut butter, reel big fish, sandwich, skrillex, summer, summer music, The Lumineers, the used, twin shadows, vans, Warped Tour

55th Annual Grammy Awards Live Coverage!

by Michael Tyminski

Source: Wikipedia

8pm Eastern Time tonight, CBS                  

CBS standards and practices is desperately trying to avoid a repeat of this (Photo Source: Wikipedia)
CBS standards and practices is desperately trying to avoid a repeat of this (Photo Source: Wikipedia)

7:30 pm Eastern: Good Evening! Welcome to what will be the first of many Manhattan Digest awards ceremony liveblogs! LL Cool J hosts the ceremony, which starts at 8 pm Eastern time on CBS. This should be an interesting evening tonight, with the Album of the Year award showing a surprisingly rock heavy slate with Mumford and Sons’ Babel, Fun.’s Some Nights, The Black Keys’ El Camino, and Jack White’s Blunderbuss, with Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange being the sole R&B outlier. Personally, I think that Babel and Channel Orange are the clear favorites, with Channel Orange being my pick to win the whole thing.

That being said, I’m here mostly to look at the show in terms of its’ presentation than to heavily critique the award choices themselves. The Grammy’s are known mostly for being the safest show on the February awards season, often only garnering attention for a killer performance (such as Elton John and Eminem’s killer performance of  “Stan” in 2001), or some truly horrendous fashion calls (see Jennifer Lopez’s infamous green dress from the 2000 show). The latter is under intense scrutiny this year, as earlier this week CBS standards and practices sent out a letter vilifying the use of thongs or costumes that allow for exposed “breasts and buttocks”, singling out that earth-shattering corrupter of morals: the thong. Needless to say, my gut instinct is telling me that someone is going to find a way to defy this (odds on favorite here? Rihanna).

I would love for tonight to be a dialogue as we all react to the show together (and get different opinions at the same time), so feel free to use the comments section below and get involved in the conversation! Stay tuned to Manhattan Digest for more updates as the ceremony unfolds!

 

Taylor Swift at the Grammy Red Carpet (Source Grammys.com)
Taylor Swift at the Grammy Red Carpet (Source Grammys.com)

7:45 p.m.: Some early updates from the red carpet. Generally speaking it looks like the artists are complying with the S+P guidelines, with only a handful of particularly deep plunging necklines (including Miranda Lambert and Ashanti). Similarly the men seem pretty buttoned up, with a surprisingly large number of skinny ties. I think Taylor Swift’s dress was pretty impressive from a fashion standpoint. Conversely, Adele’s floral print design leaves a lot to be desired.

For me though, the highlight of the red carpet was Jennifer Lopez’s angry shrieks of protest after Ryan Seacrest noted that her dress was skirting the lines of what CBS was allowing screaming “I’m just showing a little leg and a little shoulder!”.

 

7:57 p.m.: Three minutes to the curtain and a large number of the awards have been given off camera already. Notable award winners included Gotye (who won two awards including Best Alternative Music Album, and Best Duo/Group Pop Performance – the latter with Kimbra for “Somebody that I Used to Know”), Skrillex (who also wont two awards for Best Dance Album and Best Dance Recording both for Bangarang), Rihanna (for her video for “We Found Love”), and Taylor Swift (for Best Song Written for Visual Media ).

Additionally it was announced on the red carpet that Ms. Swift will be the opening performance tonight, so expect to see her on your TV screens sometime in the next few minutes.

8:15 PM: And on cue we open with a weird man on a bike with a torch to introduce Taylor Swift who opens the show with “We are Never (Getting Back Together)” in a very sideshow circus vibe that involved a boyfriend strapped to a carnival wheel, trapeze artists, fire spinners and a large amount of pyrotechnics. The performance itself was pretty mediocre in spite of the spectacle, but it seemed like a fine way to amp up the crowd for tonight’s show.

Afterwords, we see our first appearance of show host, LL Cool J. He devotes his somewhat meandering opening monologue discussing music as a vehicle for bringing people together before pitching it to Eddie Sheeran and Elton John to perform Sheeran’s song “A Team”. I love Elton John as much as anyone, but it seemed like he was off for most of the song and it adversely affected the vocal harmonies. I did enjoy the off in the crowd staging aspect that they used, as it seemed to highlight the “lighter song” vibe that one gets when listening to “A-team”.

Fun. Performing Carry On (Source Grammys.com)
Fun. Performing Carry On (Source Grammys.com)

8:27 PM: LL  Cool J asks us to use #Grammys when talking about tonight’s show before kicking it to J-Lo and Pitbull (with a split screen to the infamous green dress from 2000) with Pitbull fawning over J Lo before announcing the nominees for best solo pop performance:

The nominees are:
“Stronger” (Kelly Clarkson), “Set Fire to the Rain” (Adele), “Wide Awake” (Katy Perry), “Call Me Maybe” (Carly Rae Jespen) and “Where Have You Been?” (Rihanna)

AND THE WINNER: Set Fire to the Rain by Adele.

Adele gives a very brief speech (in which she called back to last year’s six wins) before Neil Patrick Harris enters to introduce Fun. (whom have six nominations this evening). Fun. then took the opportunity to play “Carry On.”, which started a little slow but picked up once the instruments kicked in. Once it built, we got a performance with a very strong cinematic vibe, including the obligatory downpour towards the end. One thing did bother me about the performance however, and that is why frontman Nate Ruess wore those Capris?

8:48 PM: Bonnie Raitt and John Mayer appear to introduce Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley. The duo play a couple of country tracks in “Over You” and “Home”. Their performance was perfectly fine and fairly low key compared to the immediately preceding performance before cutting to LL Cool J on American Bandstand in an awkward transition. LL then takes the opportunity to pay tribute to Dick Clark.

LL Cool J then makes an another abrupt transition, introducing Miguel and Wiz Khalifa, whom perform “Adorn” . The performance was sizzling, with Miguel showing off his pipes and performing the standard issue R and B theatrics. From there, our performer then announced the nominees for…wait for it…best country solo performance (because that made sense to me too right?)

The nominees for best country solo performance:
“Home” (Dierks Bentley), “Springsteen” (Eric Church), “Cost of Living” (Ronnie Dunn), “Wanted (Hunter Hayes), “Over (Blake Shelton), and “Blown Away” (Carrie Underwood)

AND THE WINNER IS: “Blown Away” by Carrie Underwood.

8:58 PM: LL Plugs social media again before telling everyone in the Northeast to stay warm and kicking it to Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, whom are presenting song of the year.

The nominees are: “Adorn” (Miguel), “The A-Team” (Ed Sheeran), “Call Me Maybe” (Carly Rae Jespen), “We are Young” (Fun. Feat Janelle Monae), and “Stronger” (Kelly Clarkson).

AND YOUR WINNER: “We Are Young” by (the now completely dry) Fun.

Nate Ruess gives a speech that has the first real crack of the night in “I don’t know what we’re thinking writing this chorus, now that we’re in HD and you can see our faces, we are clearly not young.”. They then thank Jay-Z (who mouths a “You’re Welcome” from the crowd) and Chick Corea before the orchestra kicks in to introduce Johnny Depp. I want them to win more awards now because they are clearly the only people so far who have not taken this awards show too seriously tonight.

Depp is there to introduce Mumford and Sons in 20 words or less. They play their hit “I will wait” in front of a large display of lights and had an excellent performance aside from some sound issues that seemed to keep the backing vocals from coming through, though the remainder of the sound was very impressive.

Justin Timberlake performs at the 2013 Grammy Awards (source: Grammys.com)
Justin Timberlake performs at the 2013 Grammy Awards (source: Grammys.com)

9:15 PM: We return to Ellen Degeneres and Beyonce (in a pantsuit tonight) whom do a shticky introuction for Justin Timberlake, whom is here to perform “Suit and Tie”. The screen goes black and white, which is probably not a right call because it makes Justin Timberlake look disturbingly like Rick Astley. Jay-Z then climbs on stage to perform his verse. The screen then goes color befor Justin does a new song with a full orchestra and band (Update: The song is titled “Pusher Love Girl”). All internet memes aside, the performance is excellent and realizing the irony in saying this about someone whose only a few years older than myself, he still clearly has it.

Following that performance, we next see presenters Kelly Rowland and Nas, whom announce the nominees for a new category: Best Urban Contemporary Album

Fortune (Chris Brown), Kaliedoscope Dream (Miguel), Channel Orange (Frank Ocean)

AND THE WINNER: Channel Orange by Frank Ocean

9:30 PM: 

During the commercial, we saw a hard release date for Justin Timberlake’s new album, which will drop on March 19th.

Dave Grohl and Pauley Perette (Abby from NCIS) whom are here to announce that Dan Auerbach won producer of the year earlier in the day, before presenting the award for best Rock Performance

“Hold On” (Alabama Shakes), “Lonely Boy” (The Black Keys), “Charlie Brown” (Coldplay), “I Will Wait”, (Mumford and Sons) and

“We take care of our own” (Bruce Springsteen).

AND THE WINNER: “Lonely Boy” by the Black Keys

Following that, Maroon 5 and Alicia Keys perform “Room on Fire” and “Daylight”. While Maroon 5’s performance of Daylight was fine, “Girl on Fire” felt a little flat at points. This was a bit troubling as if there are two vocal artists who not only can, but are expected to let their vocals soar, it’s Adam Levine and Alicia Keys.

Kaley Cuoco and Keith Urban next came out to introduce the award for “Best Pop Vocal Album”. The nominees were:

Stronger (Kelly Clarkson), Ceremonials (Florence and the Machine), Some Nights (Fun.). Overexposed (Maroon 5), and The Truth About Love (Pink).

AND THE WINNER: Stronger by Kelly Clarkson

Kelly comes up and wings an acceptance speech, where she mentions being “stuck to Miranda Lambert” and expressed interest in working with Miguel. It was truly spontaneous and very welcome in this very overstuffed and seemingly overscripted show.

9:55 PM:  After a performance from Rihanna that had shades of Adele’s performance of “Someone Like You” from last year, Carly Rae Jespen and Ne-Yo come out to present the award for best Rap/Sung collaboration

“Wild Ones” (Flo-Rida f. Sia), “Tonight” (John Legend f. Ludacris), “Cherry Wine ‘ (Nas f. Amy Winehouse), “Talk that Talk” (Rihanna f. Jay Z), and “No Church in the Wild” (Jay-Z/Kanye West feat. Frank Ocean and the Dream)

AND THE WINNER: No Church in the Wild by Jay-Z and Kanye West featuring Frank Ocean and the Dream.

In a classy move, Jay-Z gave most of the speech to Frank Ocean and the Dream, whom both give quick shout outs. Jay-Z on the other hand, simply thanks “The swap meet, because that’s where he (The Dream) got that hat.”

10:02 PM: The Lifetime Achievement award was announced with The Temptations, Carole King, Ravi Shankar, Patty Page, Glenn Gould, Charlie Haden, and Lightning Hopkins amongst the recipients.

After the break, Kat Dennings comes out to introduce the Black Keys, Dr. John, and the New Orleans Preservation Hall Band. All parties involved come out rocking, performing the Black Keys’ hit “Lonely Boy”. While I am typically not a fan of brass instruments in Rock Music. Adding to the proceedings was Dr. John, whom was dressed about as outlandishly as one could possibly be on a grammy stage, in full Hoodoo gear. It was a great performance, I do with it would have highlighted Dr. John a little more.
This was then followed up by Kelly Clarkson performing a medley including “Tennessee Waltz”, “Natural Woman”, in order to honor Patti Page and Carole King. This then segued into the nominations for best country album.

The nominees are: Uncaged (Zac Brown Band), Hunter Hayes (Hunter Hayes), Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran (Jamey Johnson), For the Record (Miranda Lambert), The Time Jumpers (The Time Jumpers)

AND THE WINNER: The Zac Brown Band’s Uncaged.

Bruno Mars and Rihanna during the Bob Marley Tribute (Source Grammys.com)
Bruno Mars and Rihanna during the Bob Marley Tribute (Source Grammys.com)

10:13 PM:  We now get the Grammy’s tribute to Bob Marley with Bruno Mars, Sting, Damian and Ziggy Marley. The tribute started with Bruno Mars, who performed his hit single “Locked out of Heaven”. After the first chorus Sting came out in a fun moment as “Locked out of Heaven” is really Bruno Mars’ attempt at writing a police song. This then segued into The Police’s “Walking on the Moon”. This performance has been the best of the show so far, as Bruno hung out there with Sting and didn’t look out of place, though it looked like Sting initially hindered by the fact that “Locked out” was sped up.

Midway through the performance, Rihanna, Damian and Ziggy Marley came out and performed “Could You be Loved”. This actually created a largeness to the performance that made it feel more worthy of the Grammy stage, eclipsing even Rihanna’s prior appearance 15 minutes earlier.

10:30 PM: LL introduces The Lumineers, whom perform their hit single “Ho Hey”. The performance seemed perfectly servicable, and it seems like they have fixed the microphone problems from earlier. This then swept into Jack White’s performance of “Love Interruption”. After the completion of “Love Interruption.” Jack then exploded into “Freedom at 21”, giving the perfect loud kick after two quieter songs.

Katy Perry is now out to present the Best New Artist award. She marvels at the dedication it takes to get to that point before offering a little solace for those who didn’t win, saying: “I didn’t even get nominated for best new artist, but now I have my own eyelash line!”

The nominees are: Alabama Shakes, Fun., Hunter Hayes, The Lumineers, Frank Ocean

AND THE WINNER: Fun. (Fun has taken two Grammys tonight, I think they are now very much in the discussion for Album of the Year).

I think this one is a little bit of a shocker, I was pretty sure Frank Ocean was going to be a mortal lock for this one.

Hour three right now seems to have been a lot kinder to this show than the first two hours.

Carrie Underwood and her projection screen dress (Source: Grammys.com)
Carrie Underwood and her projection screen dress (Source: Grammys.com)

10:45 PM: And apparently I jinxed everyone (sorry!).

Hunter Hayes is out to sing (I wasn’t impressed, but I’m not a country guy) before introducing Carrie Underwood, who then sung two of her songs. Carrie’s vocals did not feel particularly impressive, but the lighting for this was particularly impressive as they used Carrie’s dress as a proxy for a projection screen, allowing for a neat visual that worked out superbly.

After this, Prince made a rare appearance to present Record of the Year, looking like a hybrid of Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and Puff Daddy.

The Nominees are:
“Lonely Boy” (The Black Keys), “Stronger” (Kelly Clarkson), “We are Young” (Fun.),“Somebody That I Used to Know” (Gotye f. Kimbra), “Thinking About You” (Frank Ocean), “We are never ever Getting Back Together” (Taylor Swift).

AND THE WINNER: “Somebody That I used to Know” by Gotye f. Kimbra.

11:04 PM: We come back to “Take Five” (no introduction, but it’s one of my favorite Jazz songs of all time, so uh, I know it…and now you do too.) for what I’m assuming is the tribute to Dave Brubeck as performed by Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, and Kenny Garrett.

Neal Portnow and Ryan Seacrest (who’s now the honorary chairman of the Grammy Foundation) are out to introduce Justin Timberlake. Mr. Timberlake comes out to shill for the Grammy Foundation and the new “music educator” award.

We now get the in Memorian Montage, which includes Dave Brubeck, Donna Summer, Andy Williams, Chuck Brown, Robin Gibb, Patti Page, Davy Jones , Dick Clark, Fontella Bass, Hal David, Marvin Hamlish, Richard Adler, Andy Griffith, Ravi Shankar, Adam Yauch (Adrock of the Beastie Boys), Levon Helm and others. Looking back at that last sentence, it seems like every genre of music took a heavy loss in 2012.

This then leads to a tribute to Levon Helm fronted by Elton John, Zac Brown, Mumford and Sons, T-Bone Burnett, Mavis Staples, Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes as they played “The Weight”. This performance had a looser jam band performance due to the larger nature of this collaboration. Elton seemed a lot stronger in this performance than his earlier performance with Eddie Sheeran. This performance is easily in the upper echelon of performances tonight.

11:18 PM: We return to Juanes paying tribute to Elton John singing “Your Song” in English and Spanish in a very intimate acoustic vibe before kicking it to Frank Ocean, who’s performing his single “Forrest Gump”. They start with a cool visual effect where Frank is running on a video screen before completing his run up a hill to his keyboard in person. Frank wrenched a ton of emotion into this one and it created an excellent and haunting performance

We’re down to one last award, Album of the Year, and Adele is here to award it after making a quick crack about she got knocked up after winning Album of the Year last year.

The Nominees are:

El Camino (The Black Keys), Channel ORANGE (Frank Ocean), Blunderbuss (Jack White), Some Nights (Fun.),Babel (Mumford and Sons)

AND YOUR WINNER: Babel by Mumford and Sons.

A pretty deserving winner and one of my favorites from earlier. They managed to spread the love around somewhat with only Jack White not making the winner’s podium during the course of the show tonight.

11:42 PM: We’re down to the grand finale, a performance by LL Cool J, Chuck D, Tom Morello, Travis Barker, and DJ Z-Trip, whom performed “Whaddup”, which was a fun way to end the show if only because Chuck D’s voice IS rap to me, and LL was game. It was a pretty solid performance and I would kill to see the single, though it would not have killed CBS not to stick fee plugs in the middle of the song.

My Final Thoughts: This year’s Grammy ceremony felt a little overstuffed with tons of abrupt transitions and sequences and with a little bit of breathing room we could have cut some of the weaker performances (notably the lacking Maroon 5/Alicia Keys collaboration and Hunter Hayes’ introduction of an introduction). Additionally, at times the show had a somber, joyless feel at points during a night that should be the biggest party for the music industry of the year. That being said, what you expected to deliver did deliver (the Marley and Levon Helms’ tributes, as well your Album of the Year candidates’ performances), so check out those seven performances.

Also some enjoyable moments I didn’t get to point out amid the I Love Lucy Conveyor Belt pace of the show:

  • Taylor Swift was rocking out to EVERYTHING. I’m not sure why, but this is really amusing to me.
  • The full extent of Kelly Clarkson’s gushing about R+B artist Miguel
  • Once the show hit hour three and it slowed down a little bit, it seemed like the show was able to gel a little more as the orchestra wasn’t cutting off awards speeches at the 30 second mark as it did for Fun.’s first speech

Final Verdict: If you haven’t seen the whole show, it’s probably not worth watching all three hours. You owe it to yourself to YouTube up the Marley tribute though, and I would probably check out Fun.’s , Jack White’s, and the Black Keys’ performances as well. LL Cool J was passable as a host, but the role of host honestly felt superfluous with the rapid pace that the show took.

Filed Under: BREAKING NEWS, ENTERTAINMENT, MUSIC, OPINION, TELEVISION Tagged With: 55th Grammy Awards, Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Carrie Underwood, CBS, Ed Sheeran, Elton John, Faith Hill, Frank Ocean, Fun., Gotye, Hunter Hayes, Jack White, jay-z, Jennifer Lopez, justin timberlake, Kaley Cuoco, Katy Perry, Keith Urban, Kelly Clarkson, Live Coverage, LL Cool J, Maroon 5, Mumford and Sons, nas, Neal Patrick Harris, Pitbull, Taylor Swift, The Black Keys, The Lumineers, Tim McGraw, TV

R&B and Hip-Hop at the Grammy’s

by Ryan Shea

homepage_large.45e3c196

Music’s biggest night is headed our way as the 55th Annual Grammy Awards will be live this Sunday night at 8pm eastern time on CBS.  Some of music’s biggest names will be performing, from Taylor Swift to Frank Ocean and most recently Justin Timberlake, who is not riding high so much on his failed first single “Suit & Tie”.

So who will be the biggest winners of the night? We already divulged into Record of the Year, but who will be crowned king in the rap and R&B fields? Here are my predictions as to who will win, should win, and was left in the dust.  Leave comments if you agree or disagree!

Best R&B Performance-

miguel-adorn-video
Credit to- hiphop-n-more.com

Miguel- “Adorn”
Usher- “Climax”
Luke James- “I Want You”
Estelle- “Thank You”
Robert Glasper Experiment Featuring Ledisi- “Gonna Be Alright)”

Who will win-  This should be an easy win for Miguel as “Adorn” got a coveted nod for Song of the Year, and that it pretty much is the best of the bunch.  Grammy darling Usher could give him a run for his money, but this is a sure fire win for Miguel.

Who should win- Miguel.  Repeat what I said before.

Who was left out- UMMMMMMMMMMMMMM “Thinking About You” by Frank Ocean.  WTF.  How is this in the Record of the Year category and not in this one? It makes no sense.  Such a phenomenal R&B record and his vocals are haunting.

Best Urban Contemporary Album-

homepage_large.45e3c196
Credit to: pitchfork.com

Frank Ocean- “Channel Orange”
Chris Brown- “Fortune”
Miguel- “Kaleidoscope Dream”

Who will win- Frank Ocean should be the only nominee here as far as I am concerned, and this will be his guaranteed win if he doesn’t get Album of the Year.

Who should win- Ocean.

Who was left out-  Let’s rephrase this with “Who should’ve been left out”.  Chris Brown’s homophobic ass.  Please go away.

Best Rap Performance-

Drake Featuring Lil Wayne- “HYFR”

Jay_z-Kanye_West-NiggaS-In_Paris-e1328668654333
Credit to- Straighttothea.com

Nas- “Daughters”
Jay-Z & Kanye West- “Paris”
Kanye West, 2 Chainz, Big Sean & Pusha T- “Mercy”
Young Jeezy Featuring Andre 3000 & Jay-Z- “I Do”

Who will win- God this really is a tough one, no joke.  It’s between three- Nas, Jay-Z and Kanye.  All three songs are strong in their own way.  The Grammy’s love all three, but I think “Paris” will nudge the other ones.

Who should win- Not really a fan of “I Do” or “HYFR”.  Lyrically, “Daughters” is amazing and one of Nas’ best songs ever, so that would be my pick.

Who was left out-  Don’t kill me for saying this, but I happened to love “Beez In The Trap” by Nicki Minaj featuring 2 Chainz.  The album sucked but this was a shining example of a rather dull album.

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration-

Credit to: wikipedia.org
Credit to: wikipedia.org

Jay-Z & Kanye West featuring The Dream & Frank Ocean- “No Church In The Wild”
Nas Featuring Amy Winehouse- “Cherry Wine”
John Legend Featuring Ludacris- “Best You Ever Had (Tonight)”
Flo Rida featuring Sia- “Wild Ones”
Rihanna Featuring Jay-Z- “Talk That Talk”

Who will win-  It’s video was just as stirring as the song, so I would go with “No Church In The Wild”.  Ocean’s voice is very subtle yet powerful for a song of this magnitude.

Who should win- Either “Church” or “Talk That Talk”.

Who was left out-  SHOCKED and I’ve said this before, nothing for “Take Care” by Drake and Rihanna.  Such a phenomenal record.  I would’ve chosen the Chris Brown remix of “Birthday Cake” by Rihanna over “Talk That Talk” personally as well.

Best Rap Album-

Drake- “Take Care”
Lupe Fiasco- “Food & Liquor- The Great American Rap Album, Pt.1”

Credit to: Businessinsider.com
Credit to: Businessinsider.com

Nas- “Life Is Good”
The Roots- “Undun”
Rick Ross- “God Forgives, I Don’t”
2 Chainz- “Based on a T.R.U. Story”

Who will win- This is somewhat of a weak category, but Drake will finally earn his first Grammy after 9 nominations.

Who should win- Drake or Nas, the only two that I really think are that good for this category.

Who was left out- Either Macklemore or Kendrick Lamar.  God knows why 2 Chainz got in here, good lord.

 

Filed Under: BREAKING NEWS, ENTERTAINMENT, MUSIC Tagged With: 2 chainz, Chris Brown, estelle, Frank Ocean, jay-z, kanye west, miguel, nas, nicki minaj, rick ross, usher

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