Now Playing: Mariah Carey’s Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel + Plus news on her Remix Effort

Once I fell behind on my album reviews (too much good music being released!) I made a conscious effort to at least continuing purchasing good music, since good music is what this Blog is all about anyways, right? So on a whim while picking up my Jay-z tickets a couple weeks back (concert was great!), I picked up Mariah’s newest effort, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel. The linear notes showed that Mariah had solely worked with producer dream team The Dram & Tricky Stewart, which definitely excited me. The album did not disappoint. It starts off strong with one of the year’s most cunning and vengeful tracks, Betcha Gon’ Know where Mariah taunts a cheating lover,

“Betcha Gon Know how it feels and we fade to black
And you see your whole world collapse
I’m gonna lalalalala laugh…..
Right in your face boy”

Mariah is scathing on the opening track. She also gives a more in-depth treatment to the Dream’s demo for Can’t Wait to Hate You, that we posted on a while back. Mariah’s version, renamed H.A.T.E.U includes more of her writing and more of her signature high-pitched vocals. Many of the songs on Memoirs include more heartbroken love songs from Mariah – a bit unexpected since she is happily married to actor Nick Cannon.  She is feisty, unapologetic and extra sassy on songs like Up out My Face and Standing O. But Mariah also has her standard beautiful love ballads as well, including Angels Cry and I Want to Know What Love is (a remake of Foreigner’s original hit). One can see the influence Trick & Dream have had on Mariah on songs like Ribbon. With the chopped & screwed DJ voice in the background, Mariah sings,

“I got your lovin’ on my mind
You got me wrapped up, packed up
Ribbon with a bow on it”

MariahCArey – Betcha Gon’ Know

Mariah Carey – H.A.T.E.U

Even though Memoirs has not been as successful on the Charts, it is some of Mariah’s better work since the original Emancipation. It has been revealed that Mariah will be releasing a remix album soon that will include a lot more features (Trey Songz, R.Kelly, Gucci Man and Big Boi to name a few) as well as remixes to most of Memoirs songs. R.Kelly tweeted recently that he just finished recording a prelude to Betcha Gon’ Know in the wee hours of the late night. I know I am beyond excited for this effort that may also include new songs as well. Mariah is currently filming a video for H.A.T.E.U. Below are two proposed track listings for Mariah’s remix album.

Butta of the Week!: Mariah Carey – Obsessed

As promised, Mariah Carey has released her new Single, Obsessed, off her upcoming album, the Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel.

And everyone is whispering (loudly) that Obsessed is a diss track aimed at Eminem! And I must say, it is pretty scathing! Didn’t know MC had it in her! The song is not the best on first listen, but after a couple more listens, I became a fan (I have to give Terius & crew more than one listens!). The music itself is quite plain and uneventful and it lacks the catchiness of Touch my Body, but still, this song entices me more than  Touch did for some reason.

It definitely sounds like a diss track to me and Mariah is fully justified. TheDream co-wrote the song and he crafts quite a few jabs in there:

I’m up in the A- you’re so so lame
And no on here even mentions your name
It must be the weed, it must be the E
Cuz you be poppin, hood, you get it poppin

Also, this is what Dream had to say about the song:

“The most anticipated is the Mariah project, and she just released a fire record in the building today. And we have been blasting it out all day. It’s just f**king retarded. I don’t think anybody is going to expect her to come out punching like she is going to come out. But she got a record.It’s going to light the blogs up too because you don’t know who she talking about, what she talking about, but she talking about something. And remember The-Dream told you first. So you can start that up right now. Mariah Carey has a record, and somebody’s going to be very upset. I said that.”

Remember a couple weeks back husband Nick Cannon had some choice words for Mr. Mathers regarding some recent comments Enimen made about MC. Mariah mostly kept quiet until now. A very interesting first Single choice indeed. Peep the music below & lemme know what you think!

Mariah Carey – Obsessed

Milk Dudd: TheDream feat. Kanye West – Walking on the Moon

Back before TheDream’s near flawless album, Love vs. Money was released, I posted a leak of this song, Walking on the Moon featuring Kanye West. But once the album came out, I was able to enjoy it in its entirety and this song fell on to the back-burner. Instead I was bumpin’, Take Her Home to My Mama, Mr. Yeah, or Put it Down instead. But…Def Jam still decided to release this song as TheDream’s third single. More likely because of Kanye being featured in the song will raise Dream’s profile in Mainstream media, a bit more. So I pocketed my opinions and watched the video, directed by one of my favourites, Hype Williams.

I’m sorry, this is a big NO for me. The video has stolen from been inspired by Michael & Janet Jackson’s innovative video, Scream. And I understand the recession, but this video looks cheap. From Dream’s homemade studded leather jacket to the played out black pleather gloves, you get the feeling they scaled back significantly on the Dream’s wardrobe in order to afford Kanye’s (he is the fashionista after all). The video models are pretty and Kanye raps his best lines to a dark Choklit model who seems as uninterested in the video as I am. The video looks like it is looking for its star, but Dream doesn’t fit the role, unfortunately. I hope this single does raise Dream’s profile a bit more, because I doubt we will be seeing another video from this stellar album.  Can’t win ‘em all I guess.

*Side Note*: If you want to see the real thing, click here.

Now Playing: Ciara – Fantasy Ride

Finally Fantasy Ride has landed! Are we excited? Not overly so, but we’re glad my girl was finally able to release this long-awaited album.

I was so excited for Ciara’s new album after feeling her last album, Evolution, and hearing the concept for Fantasy Ride – a 3-disc compilation album that had three parts to it: Crunk-Town, Groove City & Kingdom of Dance. With producers like The Dream & Tricky Stewart, and Danja assigned to helm the project, my excitement levels rose even higher – it was about to be C-Season!

Sadly, things did not pop off as planned. Some of you may know that Ciara fired her longtime manager Phillana Williams and decided to sign on with Jonny Wright’s (Britney Spears & N’SYNC back in the day) Management Group.  Since then, she had released her T-Pain duet, Go Girl, to very little criitcal fanfare, and scrapped the 3-disc set ideas for Fantasy Ride. Also, regretably, Ciara has been all over the place musically and image-wise. One day her style is reminiscent of Rihanna’s goth-chic look, the next, she is reminding us of her Crunk & B days **sigh**. Ciara’s music hasn’t been any less coherent. She did release the Polow-produced Neva Ever, and brought out the hip rolls for the video, but then switched it up with Justin Timberlake in her overly sexual video for Love Sex Magic.

ChokLit Fresh: Rick Ross & the Dream – All I Want is You

The Dream rocked his best zipped-down sports jacket and sunglasses to Columbia, where Rick Ross is killing us with the Mafia-style suits, and grown-man belly.

All I Want is You is Rick Ross’ second single featuring ChokLit fave, The Dream. I’m a little confused as to why TheDream is singing in this high octave for the chorus of the song. It seems the song will grow on me, but I’m not feeling Dream’s  cameo just yet. The Columbia scenery look exquisite. And all thse lovely ladies in thier best Coogi-sponsored swimwear makes me want a Coogi bikini top. Really badly.

Do you guys like, or don’t like?

more about “kanYe West : Blog :“, posted with vodpod

Melt in Your Ears: Nivea – Zodiac

photo: Brown/Getty Images

Nivea is back! Well, not actually sure what her status is right now with her label or her new project. We last spoke about Nivea after the wacky interview she gave earlier this year about her ex-husband, Terius Nash.  Lucky for us, Nivea is making music again. I think she is very underrated. Nivea has a unique voice and has very good control of it. She is also a talented songwriter. This song, Zodiac was produced by C. Tricky Stewart, TheDream’s longtime producer. It is a simple track, with a brooding beat and a light piano-driven melody. Nivea sounds great singing about the various zodiac signs and if her man matches with her sign. You can visit Nivea’s Myspace here to hear more of the music she posts and show her some love. Make sure you check out her song, Serious – it sounds like a diss track to Dream…

You guys feeling this one or no?

Nivea – Zodiac

Milk Dudd: Cassie + The Dream – Keep on Lovin Me

Ok, we will address this Cassie thing, only because she has recently released a new song with my dude, The Dream.

Before..

So this past weekend, Ms Cassie decided to shave off half of her head. She posted pics of her new ‘do on Twitter and also added this official ‘statement’:

“Sometimes in life, you need a change. Something deeper than what you thought you were capable of. Something that displays the “I don’t give a f*ck” attitude that was always present but never showcased. Something that makes you look at this whole wide world differently. And something that will shock your mother, but will make her call you a ROCKSTAR. Yea I did it…“

After various comments and responses on her Twitter page (what did she think would happen??) Cassie again responded:”They ask why?? Lol… B/C I WOKE UP AND FELT LIKE IT!!! YEEEAHHH!!! LOL Have a great weekend!xx“
Source

Well…I guess Homegirl is officially a ‘Rockstar’!  Diddy needs to come get his girl, and make her the Official girl already…but alas, this is just for attention, we know. A couple weeks ago we posted her new track with Diddy, Must be Love, and now she gets a new ‘Look’ and a “I don’t give a F*ck’ attitude to match… Did we really need the Twitter announcement? And the official statements? Hmmmm…

Still in the W(rapper): Electrik Red – So Good

(L-R)Lesley, Sarah, Naomi & Binkey

I have been meaning to talk about these ladies for a minute, mostly because they are co-signed by TheDream and their upcoming debut album, How To Be a Lady Volume 1, is being touted by Island Def Jam honcho L.A Reid as “a female version of [Dream's first album] Love/Hate” Upon first glance of the ladies, I recognized at least three faces. That’s because these ladies have been prominent video vixens/dancers and have appeared in videos such as Pretty Ricky’s Grind with me, Ying Yang Twins (remember dem?) The Whisper Song, and have toured with Usher and Chris Brown. Two of these ChokLit ladies  are actually originally from Toronto (Go Girls!)

Read on…