1.
Extended play
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An extended play is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single, but is usually unqualified as an album or LP. EPs generally do not contain as many tracks as albums, and are considered less expensive, an EP originally referred to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play and LP, but it is now applied to mid-length CDs and downloads as well. Ricardo Baca of The Denver Post said, EPs—originally extended-play single releases that are shorter than traditional albums—have long been popular with punk, in the United Kingdom, the Official Chart Company defines a boundary between EP and album classification at 25 minutes of length or four tracks. EPs were released in various sizes in different eras, the earliest multi-track records, issued around 1919 by Grey Gull Records, were vertically cut 78 rpm discs known as 2-in-1 records. These had finer than usual grooves, like Edison Disc Records, by 1949, when the 45 rpm single and 33 1⁄3 rpm LP were competing formats, seven-inch 45 rpm singles had a maximum playing time of only about four minutes per side. Partly as an attempt to compete with the LP introduced in 1948 by rival Columbia, RCA Victor introduced Extended Play 45s during 1952. Their narrower grooves, achieved by lowering the levels and sound compression optionally. These were usually 10-inch LPs split onto two seven-inch EPs or 12-inch LPs split onto three seven-inch EPs, either separately or together in gatefold covers. This practice became less common with the advent of triple-speed-available phonographs. Some classical music albums released at the beginning of the LP era were distributed as EP albums—notably the seven operas that Arturo Toscanini conducted on radio between 1944 and 1954. These opera EPs, originally broadcast on the NBC Radio network and manufactured by RCA, in the 1990s, they began appearing on compact discs. During the 1950s, RCA published several EP albums of Walt Disney movies and these usually featured the original casts of actors and actresses. Each album contained two seven-inch records, plus an illustrated booklet containing the text of the recording, so that children could follow along by reading. Some of the titles included Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and what was then a recent release, because of the popularity of 7 and other formats, SP records became less popular and the production of SPs in Japan was suspended in 1963. In the 1950s and 1960s, EPs were usually compilations of singles or album samplers and were played at 45 rpm on seven-inch discs. Record Retailer printed the first EP chart in 1960, the New Musical Express, Melody Maker, Disc and Music Echo and the Record Mirror continued to list EPs on their respective singles charts. The Beatles Twist and Shout outsold most singles for some weeks in 1963, when the BBC and Record Retailer commissioned the British Market Research Bureau to compile a chart it was restricted to singles and EPs disappeared from the listings. In the Philippines, seven-inch EPs marketed as mini-LPs were introduced in 1970, with tracks selected from an album and this mini-LP format also became popular in America in the early 1970s for promotional releases, and also for use in jukeboxes
2.
N.W.A
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N. W. A was an American hip hop group from Compton, California. The group was banned from many mainstream American radio stations. In spite of this, the group has sold over 10 million units in the United States alone, the group was also known for their deep hatred of the police system, which sparked much controversy over the years. The original lineup formed in 1986 consisted of Arabian Prince, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, MC Ren and Dr. Dre would later become platinum-selling solo artists in the 1990s. Rolling Stone ranked N. W. A number 83 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, in 2016, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, following three previous nominations. The group was assembled by Compton-based Eazy-E, who co-founded Ruthless Records with Jerry Heller, Eazy-E sought an introduction to Steve Yano. Although initially rebuffed, Yano was impressed by Eazy-Es persistence and arranged a meeting with Dr. Dre, initially, N. W. A consisted of Eazy-E and Dr. Dre. Together with fellow producer Arabian Prince, Ice Cube was added to the roster after he had started out as a rapper for the group C. I. A, Dre would later bring DJ Yella on board as well. Dre and Yella were both members of the World Class Wreckin Cru as DJs and producers. Ruthless released the single Panic Zone in 1987 with Macola Records, which was included on the compilation album N. W. A. Mexican rapper Krazy-Dee co-wrote Panic Zone, which was originally called Hispanic Zone, also included was Eazy-Es solo track Boyz-n-the-Hood. N. W. A released their studio album, Straight Outta Compton. With its famous opening salvo of three tracks, the reflected the rising anger of the urban youth. The opening song Straight Outta Compton introduced the group, Fuck tha Police protested police brutality and racial profiling, while the group was later credited with pioneering the burgeoning subgenre of gangsta rap, N. W. A referred to their music as reality rap. Dr. Dre and DJ Yella, as HighPowered Productions, composed the beats for each song, with Dre making occasional rapping appearances. Ice Cube, and MC Ren wrote most of the lyrics, including Fuck tha Police, perhaps the groups most notorious song. This letter can still be seen at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, policemen refused to provide security for the groups concerts, hurting their plans to tour. Nonetheless, the FBIs letter only served to more publicity to the group
3.
Torrance, California
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Torrance is a city in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Torrance has 1.5 miles of beaches on the Pacific Ocean, Torrance has a moderate year-round climate with warm temperatures, sea breezes, low humidity and an average rainfall of 12.55 inches per year. Since its incorporation in 1921, Torrance has grown rapidly and its estimated 2013 population was 147,478. This residential and light high-tech industries city has 90,000 street trees and 30 city parks, known for its low crime rates, the city consistently ranks among the safest cities in Los Angeles County. Torrance is the birthplace of the American Youth Soccer Organization, in addition, the city of Torrance has the second-highest percentage of Japanese demographic in California. Torrance was originally part of the Tongva Native American homeland for thousands of years and it was later divided in 1846 with Governor Pío Pico granting Rancho de los Palos Verdes to José Loreto and Juan Capistrano Sepulveda, in the Alta California territory of independent Mexico. In the early 1900s, real estate developer Jared Sidney Torrance and they purchased part of an old Spanish land grant and hired landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. to design a new planned community. The resulting town was founded in October 1912 and named after Mr. Torrance, the first residential avenue created in Torrance was Gramercy and the second avenue was Andreo. Many of the houses on these avenues turned 100 years of age in 2012, both avenues are located in the area referred to as Old Town Torrance. This section of Torrance is under review to be classified as a historical district, historically the El Nido neighborhood was home to many European immigrants, such as originally Dutch, German, Greek, Italian and Portuguese people. Rapid new growth in Torrance began after World War II as wartime industries transformed into Post-war Aerospace manufacturers, large housing developments were built in the 1950s and 1960s to accommodate the new population. Torrance moved on after the closure of some development and oil refinery plants in the 1990s statewide recession. Torrance survived the deindustrialization, regional economic slowdowns and national recessions in the 1970s to 2000s, large-scale Asian immigration in the past couple of decades has transformed Torrance into a diverse and multicultural city. Torrance is a community in southwestern Los Angeles County sharing the climate. It is about 20 miles southwest of Downtown Los Angeles, Torrance Beach lies between Redondo Beach and Malaga Cove on Santa Monica Bay. The southernmost stretch of Torrance Beach, on a cove at the end of the Palos Verdes peninsula, is known to locals as Rat Beach. A Nature center provides activities, information, and classes for school children, Torrance has a Mediterranean climate or Dry-Summer Subtropical. The rainy season is November through March, as shown in the adjacent table, the Los Angeles area is also subject to the phenomenon typical of a microclimate
4.
West Coast hip hop
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West Coast hip hop is a hip hop music subgenre that encompasses any artists or music that originates in the West Coast region of the United States. The culture is believed to have been a mutual creation which evolved from interaction between people who identified with elements from their respective coasts. A number of laid the foundations for West Coast hip hop, long before the emergence of West Coast rappers such as DJ Flash & The Rappers Rapp Group, Eazy-E, Ice T. According to geniusrap. com, a cataclysmic event helped give rise to it out West, in 1967, Bud Schulberg founded a creative space entitled Watts Writers Workshop, intended to help the people of the Watts neighborhood and provide a place for them to express themselves freely. Out of this background the Watts Prophets formed, its members having moved to the West Coast from southern states such as Texas and Louisiana. The West Coast hip-hop scene started in earnest in 1978 with the founding of Unique Entertainment, a group influenced by Prince, East Coast hip hop, Kraftwerk, Parliament-Funkadelic and others. In 1984, Uncle Jamms Army released their first single, Dial-a-Freak, and in the same year Egyptian Lover released his On the Nile album, which includes the popular 12 single Egypt Egypt. Another early landmark occurred in 1981, when Duffy Hooks launched the first West Coast rap label, Rappers Rapp Records and its first act was the duo of Disco Daddy and Captain Rapp, whose debut single was Gigolo Rapp or Gigolo Groove. Later, in 1983, Captain Rapp would create the classic West Coast song Bad Times, in the mid-1980s, Mixmaster Spade defined an early form of gangsta rap with his Compton Posse. From this group, Spade mentored future rap stars of the West Coast, including Toddy Tee, in the same period, the Compton-based former locking dancer Alonzo Williams formed World Class Wreckin Cru, which included future N. W. A members Dr. Dre and DJ Yella. Williams also founded Kru-Cut Records and established a studio in the back of his nightclub Eves After Dark. During this period, one of the greatest factors in the spread of West Coast hip-hop was the radio station 1580 KDAY, in 1988, N. W. As landmark album Straight Outta Compton was released. As well as establishing a basis for the popularity of gangsta rap, in particular, the controversial Fuck tha Police and the ensuing censorship attracted substantial media coverage and public attention. Following the dissolution of N. W. A. due to in-fighting, the early 1990s was a period in which hip hop went from strength to strength. Tupac Shakurs debut album 2Pacalypse Now was released in 1991, demonstrating an awareness, with attacks on social injustice, poverty. Shakurs music and philosophy was rooted in various philosophies and approaches, including the Black Panther Party, Black nationalism, egalitarianism, and liberty. Also in 1991, Suge Knight founded Death Row Records using money he had extorted from the pop-rapper Vanilla Ice - the West Coast saw the debut of arguably its most influential and popular rapper. Other Death Row releases such as Snoop Doggy Doggs Doggystyle and 2Pacs All Eyez on Me became huge sellers and were critically acclaimed
5.
Gangsta rap
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Gangsta rap or gangster rap is a subgenre of hip hop music with themes and lyrics that generally emphasize the gangsta lifestyle. After the national attention that Ice-T and N. W. A attracted in the late 1980s and early 1990s, gangsta rap became the most commercially lucrative subgenre of hip hop. Many gangsta rap artists openly boast of their associations with various street gangs as part of their artistic image, with the Bloods. Gangsta rap is closely related to other indigenous gang and crime-oriented forms of music, the subject matter inherent in gangsta rap has caused a great deal of controversy. The White House administrations of both George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton criticized the genre, many gangsta rappers argue that in the world of their genre exists the emotions and perspectives of a people whose suffering is too often overlooked and belittled by society. Gangsta rap, some argue, was an effect of the various wrongdoings perpetrated against African-Americans in underprivileged neighborhoods. The various riots sparked by the Rodney King beating and the acquittal of the officers responsible for the beating sparked anger. Gangsta rap acted as an outlet so such people could express themselves angrily and they often used gangsta rap to tell the stories of their lives, which sometimes included strong violence, hypersexuality, and drug abuse. The 1973 album Hustlers Convention by Lightnin Rod and Jaren Clark featured lyrics that deal with life, including pimping. Many rappers, such as Ice-T and Mac Dre, have credited pimp, rudy Ray Moores stand-up comedy and films based on his Dolemite hustler-pimp alter ego also influenced gangsta rap and are still a popular source for samples. Finally, blaxploitation films of the 1970s, with their depictions of black underworld figures, were a major inspiration as well. Tracy Ice-T Morrow, was born in Newark, New Jersey, as a teenager, he moved to Los Angeles where he rose to prominence in the West Coast hip hop scene. In 1986, Ice-T released 6 in the Mornin, which is regarded as among the first gangsta rap songs. In an interview with PROPS magazine, Ice-T said, Heres the exact order of what really went down. Then the syncopation of that rap was used by me when I made 6 in the Mornin, the vocal delivery was the same. P. S. K. is makin that green. six in the morning, police at my door. When I heard that record I was like Oh @#. *%, and call it a bite or what you will but I dug that record. My record didnt sound like P. S. K, but I liked the way he was flowing with it. P. S. K. was talking about Park Side Killers and that was the only difference, when Schoolly did it, it was. one by one, Im knockin em out
6.
Ruthless Records
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Ruthless is an American record label, founded by Jerry Heller and gangsta rapper Eazy-E. The record label was founded in Torrance, California in 1986. The labels acts over the years have earned RIAA certifications of Platinum or higher on 15 of its albums, including releases by N. W. A, Eazy-E, MC Ren. It also put out singles by underground California acts such as Frost, Fad, but the labels first full-length release was N. W. As Straight Outta Compton, which was eventually certified Triple Platinum by the RIAA. Immediately following this was the release of Eazys solo debut, Eazy-Duz-It, as the six members went on tour in support of their project, some began to voice their displeasure with the financial situation at Ruthless. According to group member MC Ren, it was an opinion that N. W. A manager and Ruthless co-founder Jerry Heller was the one receiving their due. We were the making the records, traveling in vans. You do all those fucking shows trying to get known, then you go to his house, and this motherfucker lives in a mansion. There’s gold leaf trimmings all in the bathroom and all kinds of other shit, the label also experienced outside pressure due to the group. The success of their song Fuck tha Police led to a threatening F. B. I. letter to distributor Priority Records, after coming off tour, group member Ice Cube voiced his opinions on the groups finances. Nineteen eighty-eight also saw the release of J. J, above the Laws Livin Like Hustlers was also released during this period. In 1989, Eazy signed hip-hops first white female rapper Tairrie B to Ruthless new Comptown label subsidiary and she released her debut album The Power of a Woman in 1990 featuring the single and video for Murder She Wrote which Eazy and Philadelphia rapper Schoolly D appeared in. The album also featured guest vocals by Dr. Dre, D. O. C. and future House of Pain frontman Everlast, Suge became such a problem for the label-heads that at one point Eazy-E allegedly suggested killing him, a move vetoed by Heller. Eventually, Suge succeeded in procuring Dre, D. O. C. now short of his main producer, Eazy-E signed various other acts that would assist him in a subsequent rivalry with Death Row. Knocc Out were among the most vocal of these rappers, with DJ Yella, while MC Ren stayed neutral, he remained with Ruthless, releasing several albums. Eazy-E released several high-profile albums dissing Dr. Dre, including most famously Its On 187um Killa, ya know, it was fucked up. Like Eazy came to me one night and he said “Man, shit is fucked up, Eazy-E allegedly fired Jerry Heller, shortly before his death. In February 1995, Eazy-E was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, around this time he was beginning to work on his third album Money + Sex = Eazy
7.
Priority Records
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Priority Records is an American hip hop record label known for several acts including N. W. A and Paris. The Los Angeles-based company was formed in 1985 by three former K-tel executives, Bryan Turner, Mark Cerami and Steve Drath. Initial funding was provided by R-tek, a company headed by former K-tel board members, Ray and Harold Kives, Priority bought out the R-tek interest in 1987. To support early operations, Priority Records licensed repertoire from others and released compilation albums, Priority Records was able to achieve unrivaled success as an independent label by developing a precedent-setting street-based formula of underground marketing which bypassed mainstream radio. Their unique approach allowed Priority to sell millions of records without entering into the fiercely competitive major label battles over radio airplay, Prioritys strategic marketing team was developed by Vice President Alyssa Pisano, who led Prioritys Marketing and Creative Services Department between 1987 and 1996. In the early 1990s, the label struck up a deal with EMI. EMI bought a 50% stake in Priority in 1996, and the remainder in 1998, despite EMIs full ownership, Priority continued to be independently managed company until 2001, when its operations were merged into EMI’s major US subsidiary, Capitol Records. Priority was absorbed into Capitol Records in 2004 and ceased operations, in 2009, Snoop Dogg was appointed creative chairman of the label, Priority released his tenth studio album, Malice N Wonderland on December 8,2009. Style - I Know How To Play Em, Scarface - Mr. Scarface Is Back Scarface - Mr. U. M. S. - Lyfe N Tyme C-Funk - Three Dimensional Ear Pleasure Cold World Hustlers - Iceland Christopher Cross - Window Curtis Salgado - More Than You Can Chew Don McMinn - Painkiller Blues E. S. G, - Sailin Da South Eazy-E - Eternal E Grip Inc. Doctor - Setripn Bloccstyle Radio Kings - Live At B. B. B, steady Mobbn - Pre-Meditated Drama Stephen Simmonds - Simmonds Alone Tha Truth - Makin Moves. Everyday Tha Truth - Makin Moves,1 Ice Cube - War & Peace Vol. Various Artists - World Wrestling Federation Presents, Aggression Various Artists - Ultimate Bass Challenge Vol.2 Various Artists - J Prince Presents, R. N. D. S
8.
Record producer
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A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performers music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has many roles during the recording process, the roles of a producer vary. The producer may perform these roles himself, or help select the engineer, the producer may also pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record companies budget. A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording. Producers also often take on an entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, contracts. In the 2010s, the industry has two kinds of producers with different roles, executive producer and music producer. Executive producers oversee project finances while music producers oversee the process of recording songs or albums. In most cases the producer is also a competent arranger, composer. The producer will also liaise with the engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation actually is music director. The music producers job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music, at the beginning of record industry, producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1950s and 1960s due to technological developments, the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously, all of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio and the performance had to be recorded. As well, for a song that used 20 instruments, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. Examples include the rock sound effects of the 1960s, e. g. playing back the sound of recorded instruments backwards or clanging the tape to produce unique sound effects. These new instruments were electric or electronic, and thus they used instrument amplifiers, new technologies like multitracking changed the goal of recording, A producer could blend together multiple takes and edit together different sections to create the desired sound. For example, in jazz fusion Bandleader-composer Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, producers like Phil Spector and George Martin were soon creating recordings that were, in practical terms, almost impossible to realise in live performance. Producers became creative figures in the studio, other examples of such engineers includes Joe Meek, Teo Macero, Brian Wilson, and Biddu
9.
Eazy-E
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Eric Lynn Wright, better known by his stage name Eazy-E, was an American rapper who performed solo and in the hip hop group N. W. A. Wright is affectionately called The Godfather of Gangsta Rap and he was born to Richard and Kathie Wright in Compton, California. After dropping out of school in the tenth grade, he supported himself primarily by selling drugs before founding Ruthless Records. Arabian Prince, Eazy-E, Dr. Dre and Ice Cube formed N. W. A, after DJ Yella and MC Ren joined the group, N. W. A released their debut single Panic Zone. In 1988, they released their most controversial album, Straight Outta Compton, the group released two more albums and then disbanded after Eazy released Dr. Dre from his contract. Eazys main influences included 1970s funk groups, contemporary rappers, over-the-top lyrics, and undeniable charisma made him a star. Eric Wright was born to Richard and Kathie Wright on September 7,1964, in Compton, California and his father was a postal worker and his mother was a grade school administrator. Wright dropped out of school in the tenth grade. Wright supported himself primarily by selling drugs, introduced to the occupation by his cousin, Wrights friend Jerry Heller admits that he witnessed Wright selling marijuana, but says that he never saw him sell cocaine. As Heller noted in his book Ruthless, A Memoir, Wrights dope dealer label was part of his self-forged armor, Wright was also labeled as a thug. Heller explains, The hood where he grew up was a dangerous place, thug was a role that was widely understood on the street, it gave you a certain level of protection in the sense that people hesitated to fuck with you. Likewise, dope dealer was a role that accorded you certain privileges, in 1986, at the age of 22, Wright had allegedly earned as much as US$250,000 from dealing drugs. However, after his cousin was shot and killed, he decided that he could make a living in the Los Angeles hip hop scene. He started recording songs during the mid-1980s in his parents garage, the original idea for Ruthless Records came when Wright asked Heller to go into business with him. Wright suggested a company, but it was later decided that Wright would get eighty percent of the companys income. According to Heller, he told Wright, Every dollar comes into Ruthless, thats industry standard for a manager of my caliber. I take twenty, you take eighty percent, I am responsible for my expenses, and youre responsible for yours. Along with Heller, Wright invested much of his money into Ruthless Records, Heller claims that he invested the first $250,000, and would eventually put up to $1,000,000 into the company
10.
Dr. Dre
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Andre Romelle Young, better known by his stage name Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and current CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, Dre was previously the co-owner of, and an artist on, Death Row Records. He has produced albums for and overseen the careers of many rappers, including 2Pac, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Xzibit, Knoc-turnal,50 Cent, The Game and Kendrick Lamar. He is credited as a key figure in the popularization of West Coast G-funk, in 1996, he left Death Row Records to establish his own label, Aftermath Entertainment. He produced an album titled Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath in 1996. During the 2000s, he focused on production for other artists, Dr. Dre signed Eminem in 1998 and 50 Cent in 2002 to his record label respectively, while contributing production on their albums. He has won six Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Dr. Dre has also had acting roles in movies such as Set It Off, The Wash and Training Day. Rolling Stone ranked Dre at 56 on their list of 100 Greatest Artists of All-Time, Young was born in Compton, California, the first child of Theodore and Verna Young. His middle name, Romelle, is derived from his fathers amateur R&B singing group and his parents married in 1964, separated in 1968, and divorced in 1972. His mother later remarried and had three children, sons Jerome and Tyree and daughter Shameka, in 1976, Young began attending Vanguard Junior High School in Compton, but due to gang violence, he transferred to the safer suburban Roosevelt Junior High School. Young is the cousin of producer Sir Jinx and he attended Centennial High School in Compton during his freshman year in 1979, but transferred to Fremont High School in South Central Los Angeles due to poor grades. Young attempted to enroll in a program at Northrop Aviation Company. Thereafter, he focused on his life and entertainment for the remainder of his high school years. Young fathered a son with Cassandra Joy Greene named Curtis, Curtis was brought up by his mother and first met his father 20 years later, when Curtis became rapper Hood Surgeon. Inspired by the Grandmaster Flash song The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel, he attended a club called Eve After Dark to watch many DJs. He subsequently became a DJ in the club, initially under the name Dr. J, based on the nickname of Julius Erving, at the club, he met aspiring rapper Antoine Carraby, later to become member DJ Yella of N. W. A. Soon afterwards he adopted the moniker Dr. Dre, a mix of previous alias Dr. J and his first name, Eve After Dark had a back room with a small four-track studio. In this studio, Dre and Yella recorded several demos, in their first recording session, they recorded a song entitled Surgery, with the lyrics calling Dr. Dre to surgery serving as the chorus to the song
11.
Straight Outta Compton
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Straight Outta Compton is the debut studio album by American hip hop group N. W. A, released August 8,1988 on group member Eazy-Es record label Ruthless Records. Production for the album was handled by Dr. Dre with DJ Yella giving co-production, the album has been viewed as the pioneering record of gangsta rap with its ever-present profanity and violent lyrics. This was the final release with Ice Cube prior to his 1989 departure. It has been considered to be one of the greatest and most influential hip-hop records by music writers and has had an impact on the evolution of West Coast hip hop. Straight Outta Compton redefined the direction of hip hop, which resulted in lyrics concerning the gangster lifestyle becoming the force in sales figures. It was later re-released on September 24,2002, remastered, an extended version of the album was released on December 4,2007, honoring the 20th anniversary of the original album. On April 14,2015, Universal Music Group reissued the album on a Limited Edition red cassette as part of their Respect The Classics series. In 2003, it was ranked number 144 in Rolling Stone magazines list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, in 2017, it was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, or artistically significant. The album reached platinum sales status, reaching platinum status with no airplay support. Because of the violent and sexual lyrics and profanity, often specifically directed at governmental organizations such as the LAPD. Senators and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as noted in the LPs published notes and this situation persisted over the years with the groups visible head, Eazy-E. One of the reasons for this was Fuck tha Police, the controversial track from the album that resulted in the FBI. Secret Service sending a letter to Ruthless Records informing the label of their displeasure with the songs message, and N. W. A was banned from performing at several venues. Also, in his 1990 song Amerikkkas Most Wanted, Ice Cube mocks the FBI with the line With a pay-off, cop gotta lay off, FBI on my dick, the lyrics on the album were mainly written by Ice Cube and MC Ren. Many critics feel that the albums lyrics glamorize gang violence, the Washington Post writer David Mills wrote, The hard-core street rappers defend their violent lyrics as a reflection of reality. But for all the gunshots they mix into their music, rappers rarely try to dramatize that reality — a young man flat on the ground and its easier for them to imagine themselves pulling the trigger. However, Wichita Eagle-Beacon editor Bud Norman noted that They dont make it sound like much fun and they describe it with the same nonjudgmental resignation that a Kansan might use about a tornado. Some critics find it somewhat sparse and low-budget given the significance of the album and compared with other producers of the time such as Marley Marl
12.
Niggaz4Life
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Niggaz4Life is the second and final studio album by gangsta rap group N. W. A, released in 1991. Niggaz4Life debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200, selling over 954,000 copies in the first week, in 1992, several months after the release of the album, N. W. In 2002, the CD was re-released in two formats, both had the EP100 Miles and Runnin appended to the end of the original track listing, but one was available with a DVD copy of Niggaz4Life, The Only Home Video. In comparison to its predecessor, the album was heavier on misogyny. The second week it climbed up to number 1, making it the first hardcore rap album ever to do so, as of 1991 the album has sold 2.1 million copies in the US alone. Songwriting credits are adapted from the CD liner notes, all songs produced by Dr. Dre and DJ Yella
13.
Single (music)
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In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record, an album or an EP record. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats, in most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. Typically, these are the songs from albums that are released separately for promotional uses such as digital download or commercial radio airplay and are expected to be the most popular, in other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album. As digital downloading and audio streaming have become prevalent, it is often possible for every track on an album to also be available separately. Nevertheless, the concept of a single for an album has been retained as an identification of a heavily promoted or more popular song within an album collection. Despite being referred to as a single, singles can include up to as many as three tracks on them. The biggest digital music distributor, iTunes, accepts as many as three tracks less than ten minutes each as a single, as well as popular music player Spotify also following in this trend. Any more than three tracks on a release or longer than thirty minutes in total running time is either an Extended Play or if over six tracks long. The basic specifications of the single were made in the late 19th century. Gramophone discs were manufactured with a range of speeds and in several sizes. By about 1910, however, the 10-inch,78 rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format, the inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century.26 rpm. With these factors applied to the 10-inch format, songwriters and performers increasingly tailored their output to fit the new medium, the breakthrough came with Bob Dylans Like a Rolling Stone. Singles have been issued in various formats, including 7-inch, 10-inch, other, less common, formats include singles on digital compact cassette, DVD, and LD, as well as many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc. Some artist release singles on records, a more common in musical subcultures. The most common form of the single is the 45 or 7-inch. The names are derived from its speed,45 rpm. The 7-inch 45 rpm record was released 31 March 1949 by RCA Victor as a smaller, more durable, the first 45 rpm records were monaural, with recordings on both sides of the disc. As stereo recordings became popular in the 1960s, almost all 45 rpm records were produced in stereo by the early 1970s
14.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
15.
Ice Cube
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OShea Jackson Sr. known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, actor and filmmaker. He began his career as a member of the hip-hop group C. I. A. after leaving N. W. A in December 1989, he built a successful solo career in music and films such as a role in drama Boyz n the Hood. Additionally, he has served as one of the producers of the Showtime television series Barbershop, both of which are based upon films in which he portrayed the main character. Ice Cube is considered one of the artists in gangsta rap. He was ranked number 8 on MTVs list of the 10 Greatest MCs of All Time, allMusic has called him one of hip-hops best and most controversial artists, as well as one of raps greatest storytellers. In 2012, The Source ranked him number 14 on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time, in 2014, About. com ranked him number 11 on their list of the 50 Greatest MCs of All Time. OShea Jackson was born on June 15,1969, in South Central Los Angeles, the son of Doris, a clerk and custodian, and Hosea Jackson, who worked as a groundskeeper at UCLA. He has a brother as well as a half-sister who was killed when Ice Cube was 12. In his early teens, Ice Cube developed an interest in hip hop music, Jackson penned his first rap song in the ninth grade after a friend, whom Jackson names Kiddo, challenged him to write a song during a typewriting class. He claims Kiddo lost the challenge, at the age of 16, Jackson sold his first song to future N. W. A. member Eazy-E. Jackson also attended William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills and he enrolled at the Phoenix Institute of Technology in the fall of 1987 in Arizona. Being passionate about architecture, he studied architectural drafting and he completed his diploma within one year and returned to Los Angeles to pursue a rap career. Not sure of whether his rap career would work out, he would turn to become a draftsman as a career backup. With friend Sir Jinx, Ice Cube formed the C. I. A. Dre soon entered the recording industry as a member of the World Class Wreckin Cru. Dre saw Cubes potential as a writer and had him assist with writing Wreckin Crus big L. A. hit track, Stereo Crew produced a twelve-inch record, Shes a Skag released on Epic Records in 1986. While Dr. Dre was DJing at L. A. dance club Eve After Dark, Ice Cube would rap over his music, one such example of this was the song My Penis, a parody of Run-DMCs My Adidas. In a 2015 interview, club-owner Alonzo Williams said that he felt that this damaged his reputation. In 1987, Ice Cube released the Dr. Dre produced single My Posse under with his group C. I. A, after the collaboration, Ice Cube showed Eazy-E the lyrics to Boyz-n-the-Hood
16.
Synthesizer
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A synthesizer is an electronic musical instrument that generates electric signals that are converted to sound through instrument amplifiers and loudspeakers or headphones. Synthesizers may either imitate instruments like piano, Hammond organ, flute, vocals, natural sounds like ocean waves, etc. or generate new electronic timbres. Synthesizers without built-in controllers are called sound modules, and are controlled via USB, MIDI or CV/gate using a controller device. Synthesizers use various methods to generate electronic signals, synthesizers were first used in pop music in the 1960s. In the 1970s, synths were used in disco, especially in the late 1970s, in the 1980s, the invention of the relatively inexpensive, mass market Yamaha DX7 synth made synthesizers widely available. 1980s pop and dance music often made use of synthesizers. In the 2010s, synthesizers are used in genres of pop, rock. Contemporary classical music composers from the 20th and 21st century write compositions for synthesizer, the beginnings of the synthesizer are difficult to trace, as it is difficult to draw a distinction between synthesizers and some early electric or electronic musical instruments. One of the earliest electric musical instruments, the telegraph, was invented in 1876 by American electrical engineer Elisha Gray. He accidentally discovered the sound generation from a self-vibrating electromechanical circuit and this musical telegraph used steel reeds with oscillations created by electromagnets transmitted over a telegraph line. Gray also built a simple loudspeaker device into later models, consisting of a diaphragm in a magnetic field. This instrument was a remote electromechanical musical instrument that used telegraphy, though it lacked an arbitrary sound-synthesis function, some have erroneously called it the first synthesizer. In 1897, Thaddeus Cahill invented the Teleharmonium, which used dynamos, and was capable of additive synthesis like the Hammond organ, however, Cahills business was unsuccessful for various reasons, and similar but more compact instruments were subsequently developed, such as electronic and tonewheel organs. In 1906, American engineer, Lee De Forest ushered in the electronics age and he invented the first amplifying vacuum tube, called the Audion tube. This led to new entertainment technologies, including radio and sound films, ondes Martenot and Trautonium were continuously developed for several decades, finally developing qualities similar to later synthesizers. In the 1920s, Arseny Avraamov developed various systems of graphic sonic art, in 1938, USSR engineer Yevgeny Murzin designed a compositional tool called ANS, one of the earliest real-time additive synthesizers using optoelectronics. The earliest polyphonic synthesizers were developed in Germany and the United States, during the three years that Hammond manufactured this model,1,069 units were shipped, but production was discontinued at the start of World War II. Both instruments were the forerunners of the electronic organs and polyphonic synthesizers
17.
Benedict Arnold
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Benedict Arnold was a general during the American Revolutionary War who originally fought for the American Continental Army but defected to the British Army. While a general on the American side, he obtained command of the fortifications at West Point, New York overlooking the cliffs at the Hudson River, the plan was exposed in September 1780, and he was commissioned into the British Army as a brigadier general. Arnold was born in Connecticut and was a merchant operating ships on the Atlantic Ocean when the war broke out in 1775 and he joined the growing army outside Boston and distinguished himself through acts of intelligence and bravery. Despite Arnolds successes, he was passed over for promotion by the Continental Congress, adversaries in military and political circles brought charges of corruption or other malfeasance, but most often he was acquitted in formal inquiries. Congress investigated his accounts and found that he was indebted to Congress after having spent much of his own money on the war effort. Arnold was frustrated and bitter at this, as well as with the alliance with France and he decided to change sides and opened secret negotiations with the British. In July 1780, he was awarded command of West Point and his scheme was to surrender the fort to the British, but it was exposed when American forces captured British Major John André carrying papers which revealed the plot. Upon learning of Andrés capture, Arnold fled down the Hudson River to the British sloop-of-war Vulture, narrowly avoiding capture by the forces of George Washington, who had been alerted to the plot. Arnold received a commission as a general in the British Army, an annual pension of £360. He led British forces on raids in Virginia and against New London and Groton, in the winter of 1782, he moved to London with his second wife Margaret Peggy Shippen Arnold. He was well received by King George III and the Tories, in 1787, he returned to the merchant business with his sons Richard and Henry in Saint John, New Brunswick. He returned to London to settle permanently in 1791, where he died ten years later and his earlier legacy is recalled in the ambiguous nature of some of the memorials that have been placed in his honor. Benedict Arnold was born the second of six children to Benedict Arnold and Hannah Waterman King in Norwich, Connecticut Colony on January 14,1741. He was named after his great-grandfather Benedict Arnold, a governor of the Colony of Rhode Island—as were his father and grandfather. Only Benedict and his sister Hannah survived to adulthood, his other siblings succumbed to yellow fever in childhood and his siblings were, in order of birth, Benedict, Hannah, Mary, Absolom, and Elizabeth. Arnold was a descendant of John Lothropp through his maternal grandmother, Benedict Arnolds father was a successful businessman, and the family moved in the upper levels of Norwich society. When he was ten, Arnold was enrolled in a school in nearby Canterbury. However, the deaths of his siblings two years later may have contributed to a decline in the fortunes, since his father took up drinking
18.
AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
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AmeriKKKas Most Wanted is the debut studio album by American rapper Ice Cube. It was released on May 16,1990, by Priority Records and it serves as his first solo album, after his acrimonious split from his former group N. W. A. After departing from Ruthless Records and the West Coast–based group N. W. A, but Dre did want to do it, we gotta put that on record. Dre wanted to do my record, but it was just too crazy with the break-up of, linking up with Sir Jinx, Dr. Dres cousin, Cube made use of pre-written notebooks of songs meant for N. W. A member/Ruthless co-founder Eazy-E. After relocating to New York, they worked on the songs, after contacting Public Enemys production team The Bomb Squad, they completed the album. And he said, thats what I was hoping you would say…yknow…and when we were in the studio he showed up with notebooks and notebooks full of new rhymes, the intentional misspelling of America with three Ks alludes to the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan. With socio-political conscious and gangsta rap content, its songs delve into the issues of life, drug addiction, racism. Arsenio Hall is specifically mentioned as being a sell-out, Cube also heavily criticizes R&B and hip hop radio stations for watered-down broadcasting. The title song directly parodies the show, Americas Most Wanted, alleging bias. He also addressed gender relations on Its a Mans World, a duet between Cube and female rapper Yo-Yo, Cube and Yo-Yo verbally spar and trade sexist barbs back and forth in an expose of sexism between men and women. The B-side for the song was Once Upon a Time in the Projects, the next single released for the album was Endangered Species featuring Chuck D. of Public Enemy. The title comes from an excerpt in the beginning of the song, in which a reporter talks about the death rate of black males in America. The album went to #19 on the Billboard 200 and has been certified Platinum by the RIAA in the U. S. on September 16,1991. AmeriKKKas Most Wanted initially charted without the support of a single or video, although the title track would later receive a pressing. Regardless of very limited promotion, and airplay, the album reached Gold status two weeks after its release, and was certified Platinum two months later, the album has sold 1,000, 000+ copies as of June 2015. Upon release, AmeriKKKas Most Wanted received critical acclaim, and over the years it has been regarded by many as a hip-hop classic. Davis Mills from The Washington Post praised the album for its lyrical dexterity by stating, hes an unusually gifted rhymer, and his delivery is even more self-assured. Greg Sandow from Entertainment Weekly complimented the albums vivid depictions of urban realities and he throws ghetto life in our faces and dares us to draw our own conclusions
19.
Death Certificate (album)
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Death Certificate is the second studio album by American rapper Ice Cube, released on October 29,1991 by Priority Records. Highly anticipated with over one million advanced orders, the album was certified platinum in sales on December 20,1991, in 2003, Priority Records re-released Death Certificate with the bonus track How to Survive in South Central, which originally appeared on the Boyz n the Hood soundtrack. The recording and writing for Death Certificate began in early 1991, similar to AmeriKKKas Most Wanted, Ice Cube was very active in the albums production, though the overall sound differed. A number of the tracks use samples taken from acts such as Zapp. The first half, therefore, is replete with the tales of drug dealing, whore-mongering, do I have to sell me a whole lot of crack For decent shelter and clothes on my back. Or should I just wait for help from Bush, or Jesse Jackson and Operation PUSH. The Life Sides Black Korea threatens rioting and arson alongside Black entrepreneurship as a response to the preponderance of Korean grocery stores in ghettos across the United States, color Blind preaches neutrality and brotherhood between gangs, such as the Bloods and Crips. Although Ice Cubes previous album avoided direct attacks on N. W. A, Death Certificate contained True to the Game and most notably No Vaseline, unlike Ice Cubes other albums, Death Certificate was not released in a censored version. The tracks Steady Mobbin, True To The Game, and Givin up the Nappy Dug Out, were, however, recorded with clean lyrics, allMusic called the album even harder and angrier than AmeriKKKas Most Wanted. It continues the sharp insights and unflinching looks at contemporary urban lifestyles that his debut only hinted at, in short. They also call it funkier, noisier, and more musically effective, initially giving a four-and-a-half out of five mic rating, The Source gave the album a five mic rating in a retrospective list of 5 Mic Hip-Hop Classics with its 150th issue. His homophobia may be irksome, wrote Ted Kessler in Select and its the sublime combination of 70s P-Funk and Ice Cubes excellent, taut delivery of rhymes calculated to jolt that pleases. Spin wrote that it integrates vitriolic politics with raw street knowledge, Death Certificate received a meager $18,000 promotion budget, and neither of its singles, Steady Mobbin and True to the Game, received much airplay, although they did receive music video treatment. In 1992, as a result of the controversy, the state of Oregon declared any display of Ice Cubes image in retail stores throughout the state illegal. This ban also included advertisements for St. Ides Malt Liquor, in the September 2006 issue of FHM, Ice Cube stated in an interview that he did not regret the controversial statements made on the album. Due to fear that laws against racial incitement in the United Kingdom could see the album banned, Island Records, the distributor of this version of the album, deleted these tracks with the consent of Priority Records, but not Ice Cube himself. Were very excited about Ice Cube, said Island MD Marc Marot, I understand that self-censorship after the NWA case puts us in a strange position, but were not going to support minority racism or antisemitism. We came to a compromise with Profile that was acceptable, the tracks have since been reinstated on a CD reissue readily available in the UK
20.
Greatest Hits (N.W.A album)
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Greatest Hits is a greatest hits album by N. W. A originally released on July 2,1996. The re-released version contains two tracks by the reunited group. The track Chin Check was recorded by Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, hello first appeared on Ice Cubes sixth studio album War & Peace Vol.2 and featured Dr. Dre and MC Ren
21.
Sublime (band)
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Sublime was an American ska punk band from Long Beach, California, formed in 1988. The bands line-up, unchanged until their breakup, consisted of Bradley Nowell, Eric Wilson, Lou Dog, Nowells dalmatian, was the mascot of the band. Nowell died of an overdose in 1996. In 1997, posthumous songs such as What I Got, Santeria, Wrong Way, Doin Time, Sublime released three studio albums, one live album, five compilation albums, three EPs and one box set. 13 on the Billboard 200, and spawned the single What I Got, as of 2009, the band has sold over 17 million albums worldwide, including about 10 million in the U. S. alone. Michael Miguel Happoldt and Marshall Goodman Ras MG contributed to several Sublime songs, in 2009, the surviving members decided to reform the band with Rome Ramirez, a young guitarist and admitted Sublime fan from California. In January 2010 the lawsuit was settled and the new lineup now performed as Sublime with Rome, in 2011 Gaugh announced his departure from the Sublime with Rome band. Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh were childhood friends, having grown up in the same Long Beach neighborhood, Erics father, Billy Wilson taught Gaugh how to read music and play the drums. Gaugh and Wilson together with future Sublime manager, Michael Happoldt, about this time, Bradley Nowell, who had recently dropped out of University of California, Santa Cruz, joined the band. Nowell helped introduce Gaugh and Wilson to reggae and ska, who at the time listened exclusively to punk rock, Sublime played its first gig on the Fourth of July,1988 in a small club. Music venues were skeptical of the eclectic musical fusion and many refused to book the band. For the next years, the group focused primarily on playing at parties and small clubs throughout Southern California with local ska bands Smokestacks, No Doubt. The trio recorded a few songs and put forth a number of short demos, in February 1990, Nowell adopted an abused dalmatian puppy from a shelter and named him Louie after his grandfather. Louie Nowell, King Louie, or Lou Dog as he was called, Gaugh recalled that Lou Dog just loved Brad because it was the first time he had ever actually been shown love. Lou Dog was often allowed to wander around the stage during the concert performances. One of Sublimes early club venues in 1990 was at a club in Long Beach called Toe Jam. This Club was owned and operated by David Rice, James Walker, Jason Burch, a private party was held in February 1991 at Toe Jam for one of the owners. Special thanks can be found for Toe Jam and the owners on the back of the later produced album, in late 1990, music student Michael Miguel Happoldt approached the band, offering to let the band record in the studio at the school where Happoldt was studying
22.
AllMusic
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AllMusic is an online music guide service website. It was launched in 1991 by All Media Guide which later became All Media Network, AllMusic was launched in 1991 by Michael Erlewine of All Media Guide. The aim was to discographic information on every artist whos made a record since Enrico Caruso gave the industry its first big boost and its first reference book was published the following year. When first released onto the Internet, AMG predated the World Wide Web and was first available as a Gopher site, the AMG consumer web properties AllMusic. com, AllMovie. com and AllGame. com were sold by Rovi in July 2013 to All Media Network, LLC. All Media Network, LLC. was formed by the founders of SideReel. com. The following are contributors to AllMusic, as of this date, All Media Network also produced the AllMusic guide series that includes the AllMusic Guide to Rock, the All Music Guide to Jazz and the All Music Guide to the Blues. Vladimir Bogdanov is the president of the series, in August 2007, PC Magazine included AllMusic in its Top 100 Classic Websites list. All Media Network AllGame AllMovie SideReel All Music Guide to the Blues All Music Guide to Jazz Stephen Thomas Erlewine Official website
23.
Entertainment Weekly
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Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by Time Inc. that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books and popular culture. Different from celebrity-focused publications like Us Weekly, People, and In Touch Weekly, EW primarily concentrates on entertainment media news, however, unlike Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, which are aimed at industry insiders, EW targets a more general audience. The first issue was published on February 16,1990, the cover price was $1.95 The title word entertainment was not capitalized on the cover until mid-1992 and has remained so since. By 2003, the weekly circulation averaged 1.7 million copies per week. In March 2006, managing editor Rick Tetzeli oversaw an overhaul of EWs graphics, Entertainment Weekly follows a typical magazine format by featuring a letters to the editor and table of contents in the first few pages, while also featuring advertisements. While many advertisements are unrelated to the entertainment industry, the majority of ads are typically related to up-and-coming television and these beginning articles open the magazine and as a rule focus on current events in pop culture. First Look, subtitled An early peek at some of Hollywoods coolest projects, is a spread with behind-the-scenes or publicity stills of upcoming movies. The Hit List, written each week by critic Scott Brown, highlights ten major events, Typically, there will be some continuity to the commentaries. This column was written by Jim Mullen and featured twenty events each week. The Hollywood Insider is a section that reports breaking news in entertainment. It gives details, in the columns, on the most-current news in television, movie. The Style Report is a section devoted to celebrity style. Because its focus is on celebrity fashion or lifestyle, it is rich in nature. Recently, the converted to a new format, five pictures of celebrity fashions for the week. A spin-off section, Style Hunter, which finds reader-requested articles of clothing or accessories that have appeared in pop culture recently, appears frequently. The Monitor is a two-page spread devoted to events in celebrity lives with small paragraphs highlighting events such as weddings, illnesses, arrests, court appearances. Deaths of major celebrities are typically detailed in a one-half- or full-page obituary titled Legacy and this feature is nearly identical to sister publication Peoples Passages feature. Harris column focuses on analyzing current popular-culture events, and is generally the most serious of the columns, harris has written about the writers strike and the 2008 presidential election, among other topics
24.
Robert Christgau
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Robert Thomas Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed Dean of American Rock Critics. One of the earliest professional rock critics, he spent 37 years as the music critic and senior editor for The Village Voice. He has also covered popular music for Esquire, Creem, Newsday, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Billboard, NPR, Blender, and MSN Music, and is a visiting arts teacher at New York University. Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, first published in his Consumer Guide columns during his tenure at The Village Voice from 1969 to 2006 and he has written three books based on those columns, along with two collections of essays. He continued writing capsule reviews in MSN Music, Cuepoint, Christgau was born in Greenwich Village and grew up in Queens, the son of a fireman. He has said he became a rock and roll fan when disc jockey Alan Freed moved to the city in 1954. After attending a school in New York City, he left New York for four years to attend Dartmouth College. While at college his musical interests turned to jazz, but he returned to rock after moving back to New York. Christgau has said that Miles Davis 1960 album Sketches of Spain initiated in him one phase of the disillusionment with jazz that resulted in my return to rock and he was deeply influenced by New Journalism writers such as Gay Talese and Tom Wolfe. My ambitions when I went into journalism were always, to an extent, literary, Christgau initially wrote short stories, before giving up fiction in 1964 to become a sportswriter, and later, a police reporter for the Newark Star-Ledger. He became a writer after a story he wrote about the death of a woman in New Jersey was published by New York magazine. He was asked to take over the dormant music column at Esquire, after Esquire discontinued the column, Christgau moved to The Village Voice in 1969, and he also worked as a college professor. In early 1972, he accepted a job as music critic for Newsday. Christgau returned to the Village Voice in 1974 as music editor and he remained there until August 2006, when he was fired shortly after the papers acquisition by New Times Media. Two months later, Christgau became an editor at Rolling Stone. Late in 2007, Christgau was fired by Rolling Stone, although he continued to work for the magazine for three months. Starting with the March 2008 issue, he joined Blender, where he was listed as senior critic for three issues and then contributing editor, Christgau had been a regular contributor to Blender before he joined Rolling Stone. He continued to write for Blender until the magazine ceased publication in March 2009, in 1987, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in the field of Folklore and Popular Culture to study the history of popular music
25.
The Source
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The Source is a United States-based monthly full-color magazine covering hip-hop music, politics, and culture, founded in 1988. It is the worlds longest running rap periodical, being founded as a newsletter in 1988, the Source was originally started by David Mays, a Harvard University student in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Mays decided to hire his friends, Jonathan Shecter, James Bernard and Ed Young. At the time, Mays handled duties as the publisher for the magazine, the magazines offices were moved from Massachusetts to New York City in 1990, a move that was made with the intention to expand the magazine into a mainstream market publication. The magazines annual awards show, known as The Source Awards, the Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest award given to an emcee who has contributed his/her time to succeeding in the hip-hop music industry. The Source also releases an album of hip-hop hits. The magazine expanded overseas with a French-language version, alongside The Source Latino, the company invested in mobile phones and ringtones under The Source Mobile Channel moniker, in which subscribers are offered their favorite choice of hip-hop ringtones. The Source also invested in its own urban clothing apparel company, the Source announced in a press conference that the magazine was in possession of an old tape in which a young Eminem was rapping racial slurs against Black women. For his part, Eminem did not deny making the tapes and he apologized for making the tapes but also exhorted the public to consider the origin of the allegations. Nevertheless, Eminem sued The Source for defamation and copyright infringement, the federal courts ruled in The Sources favor, and allowed a limited distribution of the tapes music and lyrics under Fair Use law. Mays and Benzino both countered the withdrawal of the lawsuit, calling it a cowardly move and they both claimed they could finally expose the truth about Eminem and planned to eventually release the racist tapes in a future magazine. It devoted its February 2004 issue to the discovery of the tapes, later, Benzino and The Source would urge video and radio stations to ban Eminems video, Just Lose It, and issue an apology to Michael Jackson. The video depicts Jackson in a light and the publication wanted to boycott the rapper. In spite of their efforts, BET was the network to ban the video. BET claimed Benzino was not the reason for the banning, Eminem released the single Like Toy Soldiers from Encore, in which he states hell walk away from it all before it gets any further. Benzino responded with the track, Look Into My Eyes. In 2005, after Kimberly Osorio had been fired, Mays. That same year he resigned after he was ordered to lower the rating of Little Brothers The Minstrel Show from four-and-a-half to four
26.
Jerry Heller
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Gerald Elliot Jerry Heller was an American music manager and businessman. He was best known for managing West Coast rap supergroup and gangsta rap pioneers N. W. A, in the mid-1980s he worked with R&B and hip hop acts like Michelle, World Class Wreckin Cru, J. J. Egyptian Lover and L. A. Dream Team, Heller suffered from a heart attack while driving, resulting in an auto accident. He later died on September 2,2016 in Thousand Oaks, born to a Jewish family in Cleveland, Ohio, Heller served in the United States Army and attended college at University of Southern California, and started working in the agency business in 1963. He later bought out partner Don Fischel who went on to package independent TV productions, starting in the mid-1980s, Heller represented rap musicians as the genre became popular with the record-buying U. S. public. His work with Ruthless Records and with Eazy-E formed the foundation for the successes of Priority Records, to date, Ruthless Records has sold in excess of 110 million records, not counting singles. At the time of Eazy-Es death, and Hellers departure from Ruthless Records, in the 1980s, Heller began managing acts on the nascent Los Angeles hip hop scene, many of whom recorded for the now defunct Macola Records in Hollywood. He managed both C. I. A. which Ice Cube was a member of, and the World Class Wreckin Cru, on March 3,1987, he met Compton, California rapper Eazy-E, and the two became co-founders of Ruthless Records. During Dr. Dre’s departure from Ruthless Records, Heller and Ruthless director of business affairs Mike Klein sought assistance from the Jewish Defense League, the JDL offered to provide bodyguards to Eazy-E when Suge Knight allegedly threatened him in the early 1990s. The presence of bodyguards provided Ruthless Records with muscle to enter negotiations with Knight over Dr. Dre’s departure. The Federal Bureau of Investigation launched a money laundering investigation, assuming that the JDL was extorting money from Ruthless Records, JDL spokesperson Irv Rubin issued a press release stating, There was nothing but a close, tight relationship between Eazy-E and the League. Heller explained that JDL’s involvement with Ruthless was for more reasons than the FBI investigation, Heller claimed Eazy-E received death threats and it was discovered that he was on a Nazi skinhead hit list. Heller speculated that placement on the hit list might have been because of N. W. As song Fuck tha Police, Heller has maintained that Eazy-E admired the JDL for their slogan Never Again and that he had plans to make a movie about the group. N. W. A broke up in 1991, with Ice Cube and Dr. Dre departing and aiming criticism at Heller, both Ice Cube and Dre accused Heller of breaking up N. W. A with the way he managed the group. Dr. Dre later recalled, The split came when Jerry Heller got involved and he played the divide and conquer game. Instead of taking care of everybody, he picked one nigga to take care of, and Eazy was like, Im taken care of, so fuck it. Ice Cube, in his diss track No Vaseline, accused Eazy of being too much under Hellers influence and both of them exploiting the rest of the group, Eazy E, MC Ren, Dr. Dre, and Yella. Also, Its a case of divide and conquer, cause you let a Jew break up my crew and house nigga gotta run and hide, yellin Compton and he married Gayle Steiner in 1996
27.
Billboard 200
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The Billboard 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists, often, a recording act will be remembered by its number ones, those of their albums that outperformed all others during at least one week. The chart is based mostly on sales of albums in the United States, the weekly sales period was originally Monday to Sunday when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but since July 2015, tracking week begins on Friday and ends on Thursday. A new chart is published the following Tuesday with an issue post-dated to the Saturday of the following week, the charts streaming schedule is also tracked from Friday to Thursday. Example, Friday January 1 – sales tracking week begins Thursday January 7 – sales tracking week ends Tuesday January 12 – new chart published, New product is released to the American market on Fridays. Digital downloads of albums are included in Billboard 200 tabulation. Albums that are not licensed for sale in the United States are not eligible to chart. As of the issue dated April 15,2017, the album on the Billboard 200 is More Life by Drake. Billboard began an album chart in 1945, initially only five positions long, the album chart was not published on a weekly basis, sometimes three to seven weeks passing before it was updated. A biweekly, 15-position Best-Selling Popular Albums chart appeared in 1955, the position count varied anywhere from 10 to 30 albums. The first number-one album on the new weekly list was Belafonte by Harry Belafonte, the chart was renamed to Best-Selling Pop Albums later in 1956, and then to Best-Selling Pop LPs in 1957. Beginning on May 25,1959, Billboard split the ranking into two charts Best-Selling Stereophonic LPs for stereo albums and Best-Selling Monophonic LPs for mono albums and these were renamed to Stereo Action Charts and Mono Action Charts in 1960. In January 1961, they became Action Albums—Stereophonic and Action Albums—Monophonic, three months later, they became Top LPs—Stereo and Top LPs—Monaural. On August 17,1963 the stereo and mono charts were combined into a 150-position chart called Top LPs, on April 1,1967, the chart was expanded to 175 positions, then finally to 200 positions on May 13,1967. In 1960, Billboard began concurrently publishing album charts which ranked sales of older or mid-priced titles and these Essential Inventory charts were divided by stereo and mono albums, and featured titles that had already appeared on the main stereo and mono album charts. In January 1961, the Action Charts became Action Albums—Monophonic, Albums appeared on either chart for up to nine weeks, then were moved to an Essential Inventory list of approximately 200 titles, with no numerical ranking. This list continued to be published until the consolidated Top LPs chart debuted in 1963, in 1982, Billboard began publishing a Midline Albums chart which ranked older or mid-priced titles. The chart held 50 positions and was published on a bi-weekly basis, on May 25,1991, Billboard premiered the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart
28.
Billboard Hot 100
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The Billboard Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for singles, published weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales, radio play and online streaming, the weekly sales period was originally Monday to Sunday, when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but was changed to Friday to Thursday in July 2015. Radio airplay, which, unlike sales figures and streaming data, is available on a real-time basis. A new chart is compiled and officially released to the public by Billboard on Tuesdays, as of the issue for the week ending on April 15,2017, the Hot 100 has had 1,061 different number one hits. The current number one song is Shape of You by Ed Sheeran, prior to 1955, Billboard did not have a unified, all-encompassing popularity chart, instead measuring songs by individual metrics. At the start of the era in 1955, three such charts existed, Best Sellers in Stores was the first Billboard chart, established in 1936. This chart ranked the biggest selling singles in retail stores, as reported by merchants surveyed throughout the country, Most Played by Jockeys was Billboards original airplay chart. It ranked the most played songs on United States radio stations, as reported by radio disc jockeys, Most Played in Jukeboxes ranked the most played songs in jukeboxes across the United States. On the week ending November 12,1955, Billboard published The Top 100 for the first time, the Top 100 combined all aspects of a singles performance, based on a point system that typically gave sales more weight than radio airplay. The Best Sellers In Stores, Most Played by Jockeys and Most Played in Jukeboxes charts continued to be published concurrently with the new Top 100 chart. The week ending July 28,1958 was the publication of the Most Played By Jockeys and Top 100 charts. On August 4,1958, Billboard premiered one main all-genre singles chart, the Hot 100 quickly became the industry standard and Billboard discontinued the Best Sellers In Stores chart on October 13,1958. The Billboard Hot 100 is still the standard by which a songs popularity is measured in the United States, the Hot 100 is ranked by radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen BDS, sales data compiled by Nielsen Soundscan and streaming activity provided by online music sources. There are several component charts that contribute to the calculation of the Hot 100. Charts are ranked by number of gross audience impressions, computed by cross-referencing exact times of radio airplay with Arbitron listener data. Hot Singles Sales, the top selling singles compiled from a sample of retail store, mass merchant and internet sales reports collected, compiled. The chart is released weekly and measures sales of commercial singles. With the decline in sales of singles in the US
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Recording Industry Association of America
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The Recording Industry Association of America is a continental North and South American trade organization that represents the recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors, which the RIAA says create, the RIAA headquarters is in Washington, D. C. The RIAA was formed in 1952 and its original mission was to administer recording copyright fees and problems, work with trade unions, and do research relating to the record industry and government regulations. Early RIAA standards included the RIAA equalization curve, the format of the record groove and the dimensions of 33 1/3 rpm,45 rpm. Since 2001, the RIAA has spent $2 to $6 million each year on lobbying in the United States, the RIAA also participates in the collective rights management of sound recordings, and it is responsible for certifying Gold and Platinum albums and singles in the United States. Cary Sherman has been the RIAAs chairman and CEO since 2011, Sherman joined the RIAA as its general counsel in 1997 and became president of the board of directors in 2001, serving in that position until being made chairman and CEO. Mitch Glazier has been the RIAAs senior executive vice president since 2011 and he served as executive vice president for public policy and industry relations from 2000 to 2011. The past RIAA chairman and CEO is Mitch Bainwol, who served from 2003 to 2011 and he left in 2011 to become president and CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. The board of directors consists of 26 members of the board, the RIAA operates an award program for albums that sell a large number of copies. The program originally began in 1958, with a Gold Award for singles, the criterion was changed in 1975 to the number of copies sold, with albums selling 500,000 copies awarded the Gold Award. In 1976, a Platinum Award was added for one million sales, the awards are open to both RIAA members and non-members. Since 2000, the RIAA also operates a program for Latin music sales. Currently, a Disco De Oro is awarded for 30,000 units, the RIAA defines Latin music as a type of release with 51% or more of its content recorded in Spanish. In 2006, digital ringtones were added to branch of certification. In the same year, the RIAA introduced the Latin Digital Award for digital recordings in Spanish and this release format includes DVD and VHS releases, and certain live albums and compilation albums. The certification criteria is different from other styles. Gold,50,000 Platinum,100,000 Multi-Platinum,200,000 copies The RIAA opposes unauthorized sharing of its music, studies conducted since the association began its campaign against peer-to-peer file-sharing have concluded that losses incurred per download range from negligible to moderate. The association has commenced high-profile lawsuits against file sharing service providers and it has also commenced a series of lawsuits against individuals suspected of file sharing, notably college students and parents of file sharing children
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Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films
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Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films,410 F. 3d 792, is a court case that has proved important in defining American copyright law for recorded music. The case centered on N. W. A. ’s song 100 Miles and Runnin and Funkadelics Get Off Your Ass, sampled a two-second guitar chord from Funkadelics tune, lowered the pitch and looped it five times in their song. This was all done without Funkadelics permission and with no compensation paid to Bridgeport Music, Bridgeport brought the issue before a federal judge, who ruled that the incident was not in violation of copyright law. The U. S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the decision and their argument was that with a sound recording, an owner of the copyright on a work had exclusive right to duplicate the work. Under this interpretation of the law, usage of any section of a work, regardless of length. In its decision, the court wrote, Get a license or do not sample and we do not see this as stifling creativity in any significant way. This decision effectively eliminates the de minimis doctrine for digitally sampling recorded music in the Sixth Circuit, however, the court expressly noted that the decision did not preclude the availability of other defenses, such as fair use, even in the context of sampling. Thus, in the Sixth Circuit, defendants who digitally sampled may not rely on the de minimis doctrine to say that they copied such an amount that they are not liable for copyright infringement. V. Dimension Films and decided that even the smallest shreds of sounds are copyrightable, under German law, however, this result is de lege lata—applicable only to that case. The BGH only mentioned the Bridgeport case without discussing it, in the United States, the case has been less favorably received. A number of District courts have rejected the decision explicitly or declined to apply it, including courts in New York, Florida, California, and Louisiana. Tim Wu, Slate, Nov.16,2006, Jay-Z Versus The Sampling Troll, The Shady One-Man Corporation Thats Destroying Hip-Hop Full Text of Bridgeport Music, works related to Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films at Wikisource
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TiVo Corporation
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TiVo Corporation is an American technology company. The company holds over 6,000 pending and registered patents, the company also provides analytics and recommendation platforms for the video industry. In 2016, Rovi acquired digital video recorder maker TiVo Inc. Macrovision Corporation was established in 1983. The 1984 film The Cotton Club was the first video to be encoded with Macrovision technology when it was released in 1985, by the end of the 1980s, most major Hollywood studios were utilizing their services. John O. Ryan and William A. Krepick led the company through an IPO in 1997 priced at $9.00 a share. In July 2005, the company hired Alfred J. Amoroso as chief officer and president to succeed William A. Krepick. Macrovision acquired Gemstar-TV Guide on May 2,2008, in a deal worth about $2.8 billion. The combined company would seek to be “the homepage for the TV experience, the divestiture of the software business unit closed on April 1,2008, becoming Acresso Software. Macrovision also ultimately sold off parts of Gemstar-TV Guide not focused on entertainment, including TryMedia, eMeta, TV Guide Magazine, TV Guide Network. The company also bought two companies providing entertainment metadata, All Media Guide on November 6,2007, and substantially all the assets of Muze, on July 16,2009, Macrovision Solution Corporation announced the official change of its name to Rovi Corporation. Rovi announced its first product on January 7,2010 – TotalGuide, on March 16,2010, Rovi acquired MediaUnbound for an undisclosed amount. MediaUnbound had helped build static and dynamic personalization and recommendation engines for such as Napster, eMusic. On June 16,2010, the announced the Rovi Advertising Network which bundled guide advertising. On December 23,2010, the announced its intention to acquire Sonic Solutions. Sonic provided digital video processing, playback and distribution technologies and owned RoxioNow an OTT technology provider, on March 1,2011, Rovi announced its acquisition of online video guide SideReel. The company announced Amorosos intention to retire on May 26,2011, tom Carson, formerly the executive vice president of sales and marketing, was appointed CEO and President in December 2011. Continuing on this path, the made a similar announcement in January 2014 indicating its intent to sell the DivX. On April 1,2013, Rovi acquired Integral Reach, a provider of predictive analysis services, the technology would be integrated into Rovis audience analysis services
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Billboard (magazine)
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Billboard is an American entertainment media brand owned by the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group, a division of Eldridge Industries. It publishes pieces involving news, video, opinion, reviews, events and it is also known for its music charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular singles and albums in different genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows, Billboard was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson later acquired Hennegens interest in 1900 for $500, in the 1900s, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs and burlesque shows. It also created a service for travelling entertainers. Billboard began focusing more on the industry as the jukebox, phonograph. Many topics it covered were spun-off into different magazines, including Amusement Business in 1961 to cover outdoor entertainment so that it could focus on music. After Donaldson died in 1925, Billboard was passed down to his children and Hennegans children, until it was sold to investors in 1985. The first issue of Billboard was published in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 1,1894 by William Donaldson, initially, it covered the advertising and bill posting industry and was called Billboard Advertising. At the time, billboards, posters and paper advertisements placed in public spaces were the means of advertising. Donaldson handled editorial and advertising, while Hennegan, who owned Hennegan Printing Co. managed magazine production, the first issues were just eight pages long. The paper had columns like The Bill Room Gossip and The Indefatigable, a department for agricultural fairs was established in 1896. The title was changed to The Billboard in 1897, after a brief departure over editorial differences, Donaldson purchased Hennegans interest in the business in 1900 for $500, to save it from bankruptcy. That May, Donaldson changed it from a monthly to a paper with a greater emphasis on breaking news. He improved editorial quality and opened new offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London and he also re-focused the magazine on outdoor entertainment like fairs, carnivals, circuses, vaudeville and burlesque shows. A section devoted to circuses was introduced in 1900, followed by more prominent coverage of events in 1901. Billboard also covered topics including regulation, a lack of professionalism, economics and it had a stage gossip column covering the private lives of entertainers, a tent show section covering traveling shows and a sub-section called Freaks to order. According to The Seattle Times, Donaldson also published articles attacking censorship, praising productions exhibiting good taste
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N.W.A. and the Posse
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N. W. A. and the Posse is a 1987 Macola Records release that compiled various Dr. Dre-produced tracks and was marketed as an album by N. W. A. It includes previously released tracks by N. W. A, Eazy-E, the Fila Fresh Crew, the cover photo is the same as N. W. As Panic Zone single and features people who do not appear on the record. The album peaked at #39 on Billboard magazines Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, on the album cover, their group name has a period at the end, while in later albums, it does not. N. W. A. and the Posse was re-released the same year by Ruthless Records, the album was certified gold by the RIAA
