Crown – Jay Z – Years later, and I am beginning to think maybe I am underestimated Holy Grail. The problem with the album is it came out around the time of Yeezus and felt a little whatever in its shadow, but this song, with Travis Scott’s excellent hook, is actually pretty darn out there – B+
What? After making so much noise about his Tidal streaming service, TechTimes is reporting that he is reporting he is planning an exit strategy? Is it a rumor or is the rapper giving up? Wow that would be Jay Z’s first failure? Actually with his Made in America festival cancelled downtown LA this year, it would be his second failure!
‘We asked Edie Parker to designed a duo of hip-hop-themed clutches, just for us,’ says the description and of course they are sold for the modest sum of $1,695 each.
‘This is not at all a stepping back — this is a reevaluation of the model of going from one location to two to three,’ told Budweiser VP of marketing Brian Perkins to Billboard. ‘We’re a very ambitious brand, and we have a very ambitious partner in Jay Z, who also dreams big. And we always want to do big, bold things with music under the moniker of Budweiser Made In America.’
Back three years to opening night at the Barclay Center and the vibe around Jay Z’s performance is mammoth. I wish I was writing back in the “Fade To Black” reunion days… mow that was a concert. This one? It didn’t live up to the hype but what does, right? 2012, Hov was still a minority stock holder and Barclay Center was opening..
‘YES, BUT THERE WAS ONE REASON FOR THIS THAT I CAN’T TALK ABOUT. I AM VERY PISSED BY THIS, SINCE HE ADAPTED MY WORK ONLY UNDER ONE CONDITION: THAT HE WOULD HELP MY INSTITUTE. WHICH HE DIDN’T.
Rap is not responsible for the decline of Christianity, on the contrary they push the God agenda all the time… but O’Reilly is a simple guy with huge blinders on each side of his big head… A decline of Christianity? I see that as a good thing, may be the product of more science in school curriculum?
We wouldn’t have joined it anyway, even if they had asked. We don’t want to be tribal. I think smaller bands should get paid more for it, too. Bigger bands have other ways of making money, so I don’t think you can complain. A band of our size shouldn’t be complaining. And when they say it’s artist-owned, it’s owned by those rich, wealthy artists.’
We still don’t know much about Tidal, but according to The Verge,Tidal reportedly offered millions of dollars and an equity stake to artists such as Coldplay, Rihanna, Daft Punk, Alicia Keys, Calvin Harris, Jack White, Madonna, Usher, Arcade Fire, Deadmau5,… in exchange of their exclusive conten
I have never heard of a business enterprise whose main selling point was more money for the billionaire artists and not a thing for the consumers. What sort of business model is that? There are many things that might concern the average fan, but Beyonce not making enough money isn’t among them.
There is a very simple test you can do on Tidal, it allows you to play five songs (you don’t pick the songs, and I got the Killers, James Blake, Daft Punk, the Eagles and the Dixie Chicks) using two sound sources A and B. You can switch back and forth between A and B during the short music sample, then determine which of the two is the high fidelity sound source. I was using my Macbook connected to a Logitech speaker system. I paid around $40 for them and they sound okay for me, but I did very badly at the test, I guessed 2 out of 5 correctly!! Not bad? Are they kidding?
Jay Z recently purchased the streaming service for some $56 million and he wants to make it as a competitor to Spotify, or Rdio. Alicia called it the ‘beginning of a whole new era’,… but for whom exactly? A new era for Jay Z and Madonna to make even more money? What’s new exactly? A new sound? a better listening experience?
If “We Can Be Together” sounded like a good trip (man, that Grace Slick can sing, how did you lose her cool?) it wasn’t, it was based on Black Panther’s war cry, “Up against the, motherfucker”) and from there it blows blues hot (try a terrific “Wooden Ships” and folk cool. Add on top two of the best songs, the title track and “Somebody To Love” and you have a career peak.
“She is a terrific dancer – without the explicit moves best left for the privacy of her bedroom. Jay Z is a very shrewd businessman, but I wonder: Does it occur to him that he is arguably crossing the line from husband to pimp by exploiting his wife as a sex object”
Rappers are still going strong even those I haven’t heard anything from for a long time, like Diddy ($60 million and $1.90 per second)! Beside this you have Calvin Harris ($66 million and $2.09 per second), Jay Z ($60 million and $1.90 per second), and Drake ($33 million and $1.05 per second)
Sure, that was in the far past but it was real problems, and he had real problems, between jail and paparazzi, and pussies, no not that kind, the world accumulated on him and the problems mounted… 99 of them.
This was the third “Global Citizen Festival” where 60K music fans and concerned citizens win tickets by completing tasks to aid the extreme poor and if at this time you are wondering when I’m gonna get to the music, you know how I felt, standing for six hours
[They needed something to] ignite that tour. It’s called a ‘Jedi mind trick.’ The Jedi mind trick fools you a lot of the time. So things you see, sometimes, are …. All I know is: everyone is talking about it. Ticket sales went up, Solange’s album sales went up 200% …’
You know how it works, only people who disagree protest, but if Facebook comments can be any indication of the success of a festival, well, this Made in America thing
I have zero doubt it is difficult to do much but rub your audiences noses in the flash of funds at a Stadium extravaganza but like Bono and Bruce, Jay Z seemed capable of it and this show, not unlike the entire on the run concept, was forced.
So .. is that why we get Jay Z? The ol’ standby guy is back headlining the Global Citizen Festival along with the amazing Gwen Stefani and No Doubt. Personally I would reverse the bill making Gwen the headliner but hey it aint my gig
Whatever your taste and wherever it may or may not coincide with the free for all 4Knots festival at the Southside Seaport, still, nobody can deny the garage rocking , country hawking Those Darlins, a band I’ve planned on catching yp with for a coupla years now. And did I mention it is free? Saturday, July 12th 1pm – 8pm
As promised, an annotated jay Z and Beyonce setlist plus a Spotify (except for bey’s last album mostly). Impressive… to a degree and they do go deep enough, right? Here and there they trade off songs (“Hard Knock” followed by “Pretty Huts”) and sometimes they have little run of songs, but it isn’t two separate shows: they comingle freely.
Ah, yes, reality. Now that the script writers of reality shows are suing for royalties the question as to what is real becomes murkier though Lennon’s “nothing is real” probably comes closest. And this sense of nothing is real invaded the music world this week.
Nas Is Like… Nas – 1999, this was one of my fave tracks, the verse is all spit strong rap and choppy beat but the chorus is half a man and half amazing and my question is why does it sound so much like… A
“the couple sang the rousing “Young Forever” before turning their backs to the audience to sing at the screen, which showed images of family life centering on the newest addition, daughter “Blue Ivy,” who they serenaded with “Halo.”
The distribution services are still shaking out and until Apple finds a way to cut the major labels into Beats, it feels like Spotify’s game to lose, but the result is here in a diluted form. Jay Z will not make $2M off Holy Grail but from this tour? Figure once every one is paid, $25M mininum and the same for Bey. It is obvious that the way the Beatles retired from touring to make Sgt Pepper? It could never ever happen now
But let’s imagine for a minute all the possibilities for other bands. If it would be very easy to imagine any entrée inspired by the Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Meat Loaf, Salt-N-Pepa, Spice Girls, the Black Eyed Peas, Korn
Last year, Jay Z blew Timberlake away at Metlife, this year he will be gentler to his wife but still out for revenge after Beyonce bested Magna Cart… Holy Grail. So everybody and I mean everybody should bring their “a” game and then Hov will holla at em.
Jim Crow was hurting the black population and racism was making the States look bad, so the Government gave the blacks some rights, stuck them in ghettos, cut off jobs, threw in hard drugs, cut off the supply of hard drugs, made the punishment for drugs worse than the punishment for murder, and mixed. Damn right I’d tell the Government to call me a nigger.
Not only the line-up sucks big time, but the price is high: $200 for a 2-day pass and $629 for a VIP pass (against respectively $129 and $229 plus fee for the FYF fest). I wonder what you will get for these 600 bucks, champagne with Jay Z? Rather a beer I presume, because the festival is sponsored by Budweiser, a shitty beer for a shitty fest. Where is Solange when we need her?
Is Jay Z banging Rihanna? Probably, if you believe the rumors… I usually don’t care about rumors like this one, but I have had enough of the hip hop royal couple strutting on every red carpet around, while looking as the ultimate role models
‘Rumors…but one states that they heard them screaming about Jay getting caught with someone by Solange. Solange told Bey whom kept her calm until they left. But Solange couldn’t. At the end you see Bey yelling at Jay. Could be a rumor though but whats being said. Sad. It just shows money still brings problems
The couple who tours together gets to sell 70,000 seats together goes the old adage. Or rather doesn’t go the old adage, and it doesn’t rhyme either,. But it sure
More and more EDM DJs every year? EDM promoters have had some difficulties to find a venue around LA, and since the Los Angeles State Historic Park (home of Hard Summer and Insomniac) is currently closed for renovation, it is crucial for them to find a new venue, and that’s why the EDM promoters are all eyes for Grand Park.
His Made in America festival is coming to Los Angeles. He and Mayor Eric Garcetti announced this morning that the festival will take place in the new Grand Park downtown LA, during Labor Day weekend (August 30th-31st).
They offer themselves birthday presents that could feed a third world country for a few years, like a $2 million Bugatti , a private island or a $40,000,000 private jet!! Jay Z also owns a $2,500 pair of sneakers made with the skin of 9 different animals, elephant included, and only for this, he should be put in jail.
I don’t think much of the brooding Soko’s sound, the French chanteuse has a brooding presence but not musch more. But the vdeo? A collaboration between Soko and Wren “a women’s wear brand” called “First Kiss” is awesome and sexy even if it is manufactured.
Art is now used as an accessory to promote music, it’s not an inspiration, it’s a promotional tool, that may or may not work. I am tempting to think that mainstream music is so weak right now that this is a need, a requirement to get all these artifices to attract attention and interest. Gaga and Jay Z take the high road dropping more famous painters in songs than the Met owns
Four years ago rock nyc was a much looser place than it is now, not only did we have more energy but we were also convinced nobody was reading us and were free to write any piece of silliness we felt like. One memorable day, Mike Nessing, Helen Bach and I spent a day writing as many posts as we could think up reaching an astonishing 32!!
I’ve been planning to see Monica Passim for around six months now but something keeps getting in the way of my chance to catch New York’s gift to country music. But NO MORE. A Saturday night gig and in Midtown must be seen
I know you think it should be Neil Young but my feeling is John Newman is gonna be brilliant on Thursday at Bowery Ballroom. Completely sold out of course, but that’s because everybody is ready for the new soul rebel who has fronted a couple of Rudimental’s best song and whose own album is about to release Stateside.
You Send Me – Sam Cooke – The smoothest of all soul singer seduced a white audience with this grown up puppy love masterpiece of 50s; pure and innocent but with the suggestion of sex – A+
Runner – Laura Stevenson – Not only is her singing lovely, her lyrics are kinda great “Static transmit me to the other side of another room in pieces; like a steady beating, the summer hurts” but the guitars are all zoom lens Byrdsy excellence – A
PETA praises Jay Z and Beyoncé for getting animals off their plates for 22 days and hopes that this great spiritual exercise will open their eyes to the suffering of all animals—including the wonderful ones who are killed not for the table but for a coat, a belt, or a bag.’
Yes folks, he is back and on tour as a solo act for the first time in FOUR YEARS. Sounds incredible, right? Especially since I’ve seen Jay Z on stage some five times in the past four years! Well, that’s New York for you
The term spiritual had such a bad connotation for me as people put so much behind the term. Jay Z, you aren’t going to find God or Buddha or achieve a higher level of consciousness when turning vegan, you are just going to be healthier and do something very good for the earth.
‘I am in a unique position to use my voice to affect change to this disturbing issue. The easy position would have been to walk away and leave policymaking to others hoping that someone addresses the problem,’ declared Jay Z
The last time I saw Billy was at the 12-12-12 gig, and the time before that the closing of Shea Stadium. He was terrific in one and not terrible in another but absolutely the perfect way to take out (or bring in) 2013 – 2014.
If it wasn’t for the fact that Lorde apparently is only 16 years old, you’d be excused for believing Lorde is a 28 year old Disney XD actress playing a 16 year old
