Tag Archives: Common

Music Tuesday Newsday: New Releases from Archer Black, Young Jeezy, Snoop Dogg, Jonsi, and Common

by Shop Keeper
January 3, 2012 - 9:32 pm

It’s been a while, musicphiles…here’s a few you might have missed over the holidays…Snoop Dogg did a kid’s album…who would’ve thunkit…Lars von Trier and indie darling Charlotte Gainsbourg is back with another solo record…Nero welcomes Reality…Jonsi does the soundtrack for We Bought a Zoo…Common Gets Some rave reviews over The Dreamer/The Believer…LA-based rockers, Archer Black make their debut…

Anthony Hamilton – Back to Love
Archer Black – Forgiveness is a Weapon
Young London – Tooth and Nail
King Kobra – Legends Never Die
Plug in Stereo – The Patience EP
Snoop Dogg – Mac and Devin Go to High School [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
Charlotte Gainsbourg - Stage Whisper
White Denim – Last Day of Summer
Nero – Welcome Reality
Young Jeezy – TM:103 Hustlerz Ambition
Jonsi – We Bought a Zoo (OMS)
Common – The Dreamer/The Believer

Music Kanye West’s Top 10 Producing Credits

by Shop Keeper
January 4, 2011 - 11:36 am

Kanye West

Before he was throwing temper tantrums at the MTV VMAs and being labeled the biggest jerk in the history of hip hop, and before he released his critically acclaimed My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West was producing some of the dopest beats the game has ever heard.

Kanye’s career as a rap artist didn’t exactly take off like a Gulfstream en route to the south of France. Prior to reaching superstar status as a rap artist, many labels were reluctant to sign Kanye West “the producer” to a record deal.

It took a 2003 car accident to inspire Kanye to write and produce “Through the Wire”, a track he recorded with his jaw wired shut. With critical acclaim, his career as a respected rap artist and eventual superstar was launched. For Mr. West, there was no looking back.

Luckily for you, we enjoyed history class in high school. So much so that we decided to take a look back and list our favorite pre-superstar Kanye-produced tracks:

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Event Bouncing Cats Premieres in Los Angeles

by Shop Keeper
December 21, 2010 - 10:13 am

Bouncing Cats 2010

Uganda has been called one of the worst places on earth to be a child. In the South, children face the threat of poverty and disease. In the North, these threats are enflamed by a brutal, mindless war inflicted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (L.R.A.) that has divided families, displaced millions, and led to the abduction and mutilation of tens of thousands of children resulting in the deterioration of identity and culture.

Bouncing Cats is the inspiring story of one man’s attempt to create a better life for the children of Uganda using the unlikely tool of hip-hop with a focus on b-boy culture and breakdance. In 2006, Abraham “Abramz” Tekya, a Ugandan b-boy and A.I.D.S. orphan created Breakdance Project Uganda (B.P.U.). The dream was to establish a free workshop that would empower, rehabilitate and heal the community by teaching youth about b-boy culture. Based in Kampala, Uganda, B.P.U. has recently expanded to include permanent classes in Gulu, Northern Uganda. Abramz teaches classes three times a week to more than 300 kids from all parts of the country. Many of the children are homeless, victims of war and poverty, and few can afford proper schooling yet they walk from miles away to attend the B.P.U. classes. As Abramz says, “This is where many people’s pride is. It’s a skill that no one can take away from us.”

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