1.
Album
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Album, is a collection of audio recordings issued as a single item on CD, record, audio tape, or another medium. Albums of recorded music were developed in the early 20th century, first as books of individual 78rpm records, vinyl LPs are still issued, though in the 21st century album sales have mostly focused on compact disc and MP3 formats. The audio cassette was a format used from the late 1970s through to the 1990s alongside vinyl, an album may be recorded in a recording studio, in a concert venue, at home, in the field, or a mix of places. Recording may take a few hours to years to complete, usually in several takes with different parts recorded separately. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing are termed live, the majority of studio recordings contain an abundance of editing, sound effects, voice adjustments, etc. With modern recording technology, musicians can be recorded in separate rooms or at times while listening to the other parts using headphones. Album covers and liner notes are used, and sometimes additional information is provided, such as analysis of the recording, historically, the term album was applied to a collection of various items housed in a book format. In musical usage the word was used for collections of pieces of printed music from the early nineteenth century. Later, collections of related 78rpm records were bundled in book-like albums, the LP record, or 33 1⁄3 rpm microgroove vinyl record, is a gramophone record format introduced by Columbia Records in 1948. It was adopted by the industry as a standard format for the album. Apart from relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound capability, the term album had been carried forward from the early nineteenth century when it had been used for collections of short pieces of music. Later, collections of related 78rpm records were bundled in book-like albums, as part of a trend of shifting sales in the music industry, some commenters have declared that the early 21st century experienced the death of the album. Sometimes shorter albums are referred to as mini-albums or EPs, Albums such as Tubular Bells, Amarok, Hergest Ridge by Mike Oldfield, and Yess Close to the Edge, include fewer than four tracks. There are no rules against artists such as Pinhead Gunpowder referring to their own releases under thirty minutes as albums. These are known as box sets, material is stored on an album in sections termed tracks, normally 11 or 12 tracks. A music track is a song or instrumental recording. The term is associated with popular music where separate tracks are known as album tracks. When vinyl records were the medium for audio recordings a track could be identified visually from the grooves
2.
Google Play
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Google Play is a digital distribution service, including a digital media store, the Google Play Store, operated and developed by Google. Google Play also serves as a digital media store, offering music, magazines, books, movies and it previously offered Google hardware devices for purchase until the introduction of a separate online hardware retailer, Google Store, on March 11,2015. Applications are available through Google Play either free of charge or at a cost and they can be downloaded directly to an Android device through the Play Store mobile app, or by deploying the application to a device from the Google Play website. Applications exploiting hardware capabilities of a device can be targeted to users of devices with specific hardware components, the Google Play store had over 50 billion app downloads in 2013 and has reached over 2.7 million apps published in 2017. Google Play was launched on March 6,2012, bringing together the Android Market, Google Music, and the Google eBookstore under one brand, marking a shift in Googles digital distribution strategy. The services operating under the Google Play banner are, Google Play Books, Google Play Games, Google Play Movies & TV, Google Play Music, as of February 2017, Google Play features over 2.7 million Android applications. Developers in over 150 locations can distribute apps on Google Play, to distribute apps, developers have to pay a one-time $25 registration fee for a Google Play Developer Console account. App developers can control which countries an app is distributed to, Developers receive 70% of the application price, while the remaining 30% goes to the distribution partner and operating fees. Developers can set up sales, with the original price striked out, Google Play allows developers to release early versions of apps to a select group of users, as alpha or beta tests. Developers can also release apps through staged rollouts, in which your update reaches only a percentage of your users, users can pre-order select apps to have the items delivered as soon as they are available. Some network carriers offer billing for Google Play purchases, allowing users to opt for charges in the phone bill rather than on credit cards. Users can request refunds within 48 hours if something you bought isnt working, isnt what you expected, was bought by accident, Apps meeting specific usability requirements can qualify as an Android Wear app. Google Play Games is a gaming service for Android that features real-time multiplayer gaming capabilities, cloud saves, social and public leaderboards. The service was introduced at the Google I/O2013 Developer Conference, Google Play Music is a music and podcast streaming service and online music locker. It features over 40 million songs, and gives users free cloud storage of up to 50,000 songs, as of January 2017, Google Play Music is available in 62 countries. Google Play Books is a digital distribution service. Google Play offers over five million ebooks available for purchase, as of January 2017, Google Play Books is available in 75 countries. Google Play Movies & TV is a video on demand service offering movies and television shows available for purchase or rental, Google Play Newsstand is a news aggregator and digital newsstand service offering subscriptions to digital magazines and topical news feeds
3.
Hip hop music
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It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements, MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, break dancing, and graffiti writing. Other elements include sampling beats or bass lines from records, while often used to refer solely to rapping, hip hop more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. Hip hops early evolution occurred as sampling technology and drum machines became available and affordable. Turntablist techniques such as scratching and beatmatching developed along with the breaks and Jamaican toasting, rapping developed as a vocal style in which the artist speaks or chants along rhythmically with an instrumental or synthesized beat. The Sugarhill Gangs 1979 song Rappers Delight is widely regarded to be the first hip hop record to gain popularity in the mainstream. The 1980s marked the diversification of hip hop as the genre developed more complex styles, prior to the 1980s, hip hop music was largely confined within the United States. However, during the 1980s, it began to spread to scenes in dozens of countries. New school hip hop was the wave of hip hop music, originating in 1983–84 with the early records of Run-D. M. C. The Golden age hip hop period was a period between the mid-1980s and the early 1990s. Notable artists from this era include the Juice Crew, Public Enemy, & Rakim, Boogie Down Productions and KRS-One, EPMD, Slick Rick, Beastie Boys, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, Ultramagnetic MCs, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest. Gangsta rap is a subgenre of hip hop that often focuses on the violent lifestyles, in the West Coast hip hop style, G-funk dominated mainstream hip hop for several years during the 1990s. I. G. In the 1990s, hip hop began to diversify with other regional styles emerging, such as Southern rap, at the same time, hip hop continued to be assimilated into other genres of popular music, examples being Neo soul and nu metal. Hip hop became a pop music genre in the mid-1990s. The popularity of hip hop music continued through the 2000s, with hip hop influences also increasingly finding their way into mainstream pop, the United States also saw the success of regional styles such as crunk, a Southern genre that emphasized the beats and music more than the lyrics. Starting in 2005, sales of hip hop music in the United States began to severely wane, during the mid-2000s, alternative hip hop secured a place in the mainstream, due in part to the crossover success of artists such as OutKast and Kanye West. Creation of the hip hop is often credited to Keith Cowboy, rapper with Grandmaster Flash. However, Lovebug Starski, Keith Cowboy, and DJ Hollywood used the term when the music was known as disco rap. Cowboy later worked the hip hop cadence into a part of his stage performance, the first use of the term in print was in The Village Voice, by Steven Hager, later author of a 1984 history of hip hop
4.
Contemporary R&B
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Contemporary R&B, also known as simply R&B, is a music genre that combines elements of rhythm and blues, soul, funk, pop, hip hop and dance. The genre features a record production style, drum machine-backed rhythms, an occasional saxophone-laced beat to give a jazz feel. Electronic influences are becoming a trend and the use of hip hop or dance-inspired beats are typical, although the roughness. Contemporary R&B vocalists are often known for their use of melisma, popularized by such as Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, Craig David, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston. That same year, Teddy Riley began producing R&B recordings that included hip hop influences and this combination of R&B style and hip hop rhythms was termed new jack swing and was applied to artists such as Bobby Brown, Keith Sweat, Al B. Guy, Jodeci and Bell Biv DeVoe, the style became less popular by the end of the 1990s, but later experienced a resurgence. In 1990 Mariah Carey released Vision of Love as her debut single and it was immensely popular peaking at number 1 in many worldwide charts including the Billboard Hot 100, and it propelled Mariahs carrier. The song is said to have popularized the use of melisma. During the mid-1990s, Whitney Houstons The Bodyguard, Original Soundtrack Album sold over 40 million copies becoming the best-selling soundtrack of all time. Janet Jacksons self-titled fifth studio album janet. which came after her historic multimillion-dollar contract with Virgin Records, sold over twenty million copies worldwide. Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey recorded several Billboard Hot 100 No.1 hits, including One Sweet Day, Carey also released a remix of her 1995 single Fantasy, with Ol Dirty Bastard as a feature, a collaboration format that was unheard of at this point. Carey, Boyz II Men and TLC released albums in 1994 and 1995—Daydream, II and CrazySexyCool. In the late 1990s, neo soul, which added 1970s soul influences to the hip hop soul blend, arose, led by such as DAngelo, Erykah Badu. Hill and Missy Elliott further blurred the line between R&B and hip hop by recording both styles, beginning in 1995, the Grammy Awards enacted the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, with II by Boyz II Men becoming the first recipient. The award was received by TLC for CrazySexyCool in 1996, Tony Rich for Words in 1997, Erykah Badu for Baduizm in 1998. At the end of 1999, Billboard magazine ranked Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson as the first, simultaneously, in the second half of the 1990s, The Neptunes and Timbaland set influential precedence on contemporary R&B and hip hop music. R&B acts such as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Usher, in 2001, Alicia Keys released Fallin as her debut single. It peaking at one on the Billboard Hot 100, Mainstream Top 40
5.
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
6.
YG (rapper)
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Keenon Daequan Ray Jackson, known professionally as YG, is an American rapper from Compton, California. In 2009, he released his single, Toot It and Boot It featuring Ty Dolla Sign. The singles success resulted in him signing to Def Jam Recordings, in the following years, YG released mixtapes such as The Real 4Fingaz and Just Red Up 2, among others. In June 2013, YG signed a deal to Young Jeezys imprint CTE World and his 2013 single, My Nigga featuring Jeezy and Rich Homie Quan, peaked at number 19 on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming the highest charting song of his career. He then released the singles Left, Right and Who Do You Love, featuring Drake, leading up to the release of his debut studio album. His debut album, My Krazy Life, was released on March 18,2014 by Pu$haz Ink, CTE World and Def Jam, on June 17,2016 he released his second studio album, Still Brazy, to critical acclaim. YG was born Keenon Daequan Ray Jackson in Compton, California, in 2012, he announced his debut album, then titled Im 4rm Bompton, would be exclusively produced by rapper Syla$. Later in June 2013, he revealed that Jeezys record label CTE World would release the album and he was then featured on Yo Gottis Act Right also featuring Jeezy. It would peak at number 100 on the Billboard Hot 100 and he was then prominently featured on the CTE World mixtape, Boss Yo Life Up Gang in August 2013. On September 4,2013, YG revealed that his album would be released on November 19,2013 via Def Jam Recordings. He also revealed that Drake would be featured on a song titled Who Do You Love, shortly thereafter he released the albums lead single My Nigga featuring Rich Homie Quan and Jeezy, also produced by DJ Mustard. The song has peaked at number 19 on the US Billboard Hot 100. On December 10,2013, YG released the DJ Mustard-produced Left, the following day, Def Jam announced that My Krazy Life would be released on March 18,2014 and that Who Do You Love. Featuring Drake would be the next single. On February 18,2014, YG revealed the artwork for his debut album My Krazy Life. The artwork features YG posing for a mugshot, with his name and it was released on March 18,2014. On June 24,2015, in an interview with Billboard, YG revealed that his studio album would be called Still Krazy. On July 15,2015, YG teased the first single for the album, the same day, YG released the single, Cash Money featuring Krayzie Bone
7.
Roc Nation
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Roc Nation, LLC is an American entertainment company founded by Jay Z & Jay Brown in 2008. The company has offices in New York City, London, Nashville, Austin, the company also has partnerships with global management companies Three Six Zero Urban Media Global Network Collective and Philymack. Rj Entertainment World Wide based in Austin, Texas In 2008, the firm has a multi-year partnership with live event company Live Nation. In June 2009, Roc Nation signed a 4-year distribution deal with Sony Music, in 2010, Roc Nation partnered with London-based entertainment company Three Six Zero Group. In February 2013, Roc Nation signed a music publishing administration deal with Warner/Chappell Music. In April 2013, Roc Nation formed a new sports management division, Roc Nation Sports, shortly thereafter, Roc Nation Sports also launched a boxing promotion division. After the Sony deal expired, in April 2013, Roc Nation signed a partnership with Universal Music. In February 2015, Roc Nation and Three Six Zero Group announced the formation of Three Six Zero Entertainment, a division representing clients in film, television and the literary arts. In November 2016, the administrator of Princes estate authorized a copyright lawsuit against Roc Nation for putting 15 Prince albums up on the streaming service Tidal. In beginning of March 2017, Roc Nation announced the formation of Arrive, jahlil Beats Lab Ox Ludwig Göransson L1 Stress Roc Nation albums discography Roc Nation singles discography RocNation. com
8.
Republic Records
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Republic Records is an American record company that operates as a division of Universal Music Group. The label was endowed by Monte Lipman and Avery Lipman in 1995, the labels main offices are located in New York City, New York, United States, other offices of the record label are located at the Interscope Center in Santa Monica, California, U. S. According to Mediabase, Republic Records was 2012s top charting U. S. label, according to Avery Lipman, he and his brother Monte Lipman first conceived of Republic Records at the kitchen table of their apartment, My brother and I had been working at record companies. He was in between jobs and we started putting out as a hobby. We had an approach to the business. The first record we put out happened to work really well, frustrated by the limitations of being an independent with a very small staff, the Lipman brothers accepted an offer from Universal. One of several labels that comprise Universal Motown Republic Group, the newly named Republic Records was formed in 1995 as a sub-label of MCAs Geffen Records, Avery Lipman told HitQuarters that the pairing was a complete disaster, saying, Our ideas and vision didn’t fit with the label. We didn’t trust our own instincts and we let others decide what was right for the project. As of 2006, Universal Republic has adopted an A&R and partnership-based growth strategy, in an era of music industry transition they have proven effective, as Universal Republic has continued to grow in the industrys declining years. In mid-2012, Universal Republic Records changed its name to its former name Republic Records, all Universal Republic Records roster were moved to Republic Records. The label has released albums by Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi. The new Republic became the one label in soundtrack production. On March 31,2014, it was announced that Big Machine and Republic Records revived Dot Records, vH1 and Republic has both used Social media in this campaign. In 2015 Republic Records had songs in six of the spots in the top 10 of the Mediabase Top 40 Chart, in the earlier days, Republic Records released the Bloodhound Gangs EP, Dingleberry Haze, as well as their first LP, Use Your Fingers. Universal Republic has created strategic partnerships and co-ventures, singer Jay Sean and producer Kevin Rudolf of Cash Money Records. Rudolfs single, Let It Rock was certified 3x Platinum and licensed by multiple television networks for sports, Jay Seans debut single Down sold 3 million copies in the United States and 6 million worldwide. Seans follow-up single Do You Remember also sold over a million copies, American singer Taylor Swift with Nashville-based Big Machine Records. Swift today is a Diamond artist with 10 Grammys and 40 million records sold worldwide, jack Johnson on Brushfire Records who has achieved multi-Platinum certifications twice and is estimated to have sold about 8 million albums worldwide
9.
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
10.
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
11.
Big Sean
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Sean Michael Leonard Anderson, known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper from Detroit, Michigan. Sean signed with Kanye Wests GOOD Music in 2007, Def Jam Recordings in 2008, after releasing a number of mixtapes, Sean released his debut studio album, Finally Famous, in 2011. He released his studio album, Hall of Fame, on August 27,2013. Seans third studio album Dark Sky Paradise was released in 2015, Sean Michael Leonard Anderson was born on March 25,1988 in Santa Monica, California to Myra and James Anderson. When he was 3 months old, he moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he was raised by his mother, a school teacher and he attended the Detroit Waldorf School and graduated from Cass Technical High School with a 3.7 GPA. Big Sean is often heard saying west side in his songs, he is referring to the west side of his hometown Detroit, in 2005, Kanye West was doing a radio interview at 102.7 FM. Hearing about this, Sean headed over to the station to meet West, initially West was reluctant to hear him, however he gave Sean 16 bars to rap for him. According to Big Sean, West enjoyed his freestyle, As we get to the entrance of the radio station and we stopped in the middle of the doorway. He starts looking at me and bobbing his head, after the freestyle, Sean left West his demo tape. Two years later, West signed Big Sean to GOOD Music, on September 30,2007, Big Sean released his first official mixtape Finally Famous, The Mixtape. His hit single, Getcha Some, produced by WrighTrax, attained media attention and led to articles in The Source and he also recorded a music video for Getcha Some, which was directed by Hype Williams. Sean released a mixtape hosted by Mick Boogie on April 16,2009. It featured the songs Million Dollars, Getcha Some and Supa Dupa, an unauthorized leak of his collaboration with Drake, called Made made its way onto the internet on April 30,2010. In an interview with TheHipHopUpdate. com on May 1, Big Sean expressed his disappointment over the leak, Big Seans official Facebook page confirmed that his debut album Finally Famous & Consequences Cons TV would be released on September 14,2010. On August 31, Big Sean tweeted that the album was not coming out on that day, the albums lead single, My Last, features vocals from Chris Brown and was produced by No I. D. According to Amazon. com, Big Seans Finally Famous was delayed by a week, Big Sean has revealed the cover art for his G. O. O. D. Music debut and explained that the one-week pushback was to be blamed on sample, the official track list was revealed on June 7. Finally Famous, Seans debut studio album, was released June 28,2011, and spawned three hit singles, My Last, Marvin & Chardonnay and Dance
12.
Fabolous
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John David Jackson, better known by his stage name Fabolous, is an American hip hop recording artist from Brooklyn, New York City. Jacksons career began when he was a senior in school and ended up rapping live on American record producer and music executive DJ Clues radio show. Jackson was subsequently signed by DJ Clue to his label Desert Storm, Fabolous first release, Ghetto Fabolous, spawned the hit singles Cant Deny It and Youngn, which led Jackson to prominence. His second release was 2003s Street Dreams, which was supported by two Top 10 singles Cant Let You Go and Into You. Aside from the songs, Jackson has released a string of hit singles, such as Trade It All, Pt.2, Breathe, Make Me Better, Baby Dont Go, Throw It in the Bag. He is also known for appearing on several R&B singles, including Superwoman Pt, in 2004, Jackson signed to Atlantic Records, after leaving Elektra, where he released Real Talk, his first and only album under Atlantic. In 2006, Jackson was let out of his contract with Atlantic, also in 2006, Jackson founded his own record label, Street Family Records. In 2007, he released From Nothin to Somethin, under Def Jam, in 2009, he would go on to release his fifth album, Losos Way. Throughout the years Jackson has released mixtapes, including several installments of his highly acclaimed There Is No Competition series. He released his album, The Young OG Project, in 2014. Fabolous has a current net worth of $23 million that has accumulated mostly from his music career. Fabolous was born John David Jackson on November 18,1977 and is of Dominican and African American descent and he grew up in Breevort Houses in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York City. While in his year of high school, Fabolous began to pursue a career in hip hop music. He was invited to rap live on American record producer and music executive DJ Clues radio show, DJ Clue subsequently signed Fabolous to his record label, Desert Storm Records. Fabolous was then featured on several DJ Clue mixtapes, as well as mixtapes with Roc-A-Fella artists and this earned Fabolous and Desert Storm a distribution deal with Elektra Records. In a September 6,2001 interview with Hot104. com, Fabolous said he never planned on becoming a rapper and told the website, I was just trying to make some money, I got tired of being broke. This was something where I could make some money, Fabolous released his debut album, Ghetto Fabolous, on September 11,2001. It debuted at four on the Billboard 200, selling over 143,000 copies in its first week
13.
Rick Ross
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William Leonard Roberts II, known professionally by his stage name Rick Ross, is an American rapper and entrepreneur. In 2009, Ross founded the record label Maybach Music Group, on which he released his studio albums Deeper Than Rap, Teflon Don, God Forgives, I Dont, Mastermind, Hood Billionaire, Ross was also the first artist signed to Diddys management company Ciroc Entertainment. In early 2012, MTV named Ross as the Hottest MC in the Game, william Leonard Roberts II was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and raised in Carol City, Florida. After graduating from Miami Carol City Senior High School, he attended the historically black college Albany State University on a football scholarship, Roberts worked as a correctional officer for 18 months from December 1995, until his resignation in June 1997. In his early years at Suave House Records, Roberts initially made his debut under the pseudonym Teflon Da Don and he made his recording debut on the song Aint Shhh to Discuss on Erick Sermons lone album for DreamWorks, Def Squad Presents Erick Onasis. In the mid-2000s, he changed his name to Rick Ross and he derived his stage name from the former drug kingpin Freeway Rick Ross, to whom he has no connection. After being signed to Suave House Records, former label for rap duo 8Ball & MJG, he signed a deal with Slip-n-Slide Records. While signed to Slip-n-Slide, Roberts toured with fellow rapper Trick Daddy and made guest performances on other Slip-n-Slide albums. His debut album Port of Miami was released in August 2006 and debuted at the top spot on the U. S. Billboard 200 album chart, Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone magazine predicted that it would be the summers biggest rap record. The second single was Push It, which samples Scarface, the song from the gangster film Scarface. The music video for Push It was modeled after the film, during that time, Ross made guest performances on two singles from DJ Khaleds debut Listennn. The Album, Born-N-Raised and Holla at Me, Port of Miami received Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America on November 8,2006. In March 2008, his second album Trilla was released and, as its predecessor Port of Miami had, debuted at the top of the Billboard 200. Its lead single Speedin featuring R. Kelly peaked at number 21 on the U. S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles, the third single Here I Am featured Nelly and Avery Storm. MTV News ranked Ross on the spot in its 2008 Hottest MCs in the Game list among ten rappers. The fourth single This Is The Life featured Trey Songz and was released in July, I look at all the strategies people use and what made them successful. What made Birdman just as relevant today after selling 50 million records, to see the class of Jay-Z, his accomplishments and see how he sits backs and accurately makes his moves. A track from the album called Valley of Death was what stood out to MTV reporters, in the song, Ross speaks briefly on his controversial stint as a prison guard
14.
Ty Dolla Sign
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Tyrone William Griffin Jr. known professionally as Ty Dolla Sign, is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He first gained recognition in 2010 for his feature on YGs Toot It and Boot It. In the summer of 2013, he signed a deal with Wiz Khalifas Taylor Gang Records. In November 2015, he released his studio album, Free TC. Ty Dolla Sign is perhaps best known for his singles Paranoid, Or Nah, and Blasé, as well as his contributions to Loyal, Post to Be. Aside from his music career, Ty Dolla Sign is also a member of production team D. R. U. G. S. Alongside Chordz 3D, Buddah, Nate 3D, James Koo, Fuego, Ty Dolla Sign was born Tyrone William Griffin Jr. on April 13,1985, in Los Angeles, California. Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, Ty Dolla Sign was a member, representing the Bloods. Ty Dolla Sign is the son the musician Tyrone Griffin, a member of the band Lakeside, Ty Dolla Sign began his music career by learning how to play the bass guitar and later learned how to play drums, guitars, keyboards, and the MPC. Ty Dolla Sign and his partner Kory were signed a deal with Venus Brown and Buddah Brown Entertainment, subsequently releasing a mixtape. The duo also made guest appearances on albums by other artists such as Sa-Ra Creative Partners. They also sang on songs such as U, which was featured on the latter 2007s recording Popular Demand, eventually, however, the partners had a falling out related to these ventures. He then became affiliated with YGs group Pu$haz Ink, in 2011, Ty Dolla Sign released his first solo song, titled All Star featuring Joe Moses, and produced by Fuego. Ty Dolla Sign then released My Cabana, featuring Young Jeezy, Ty Dolla Sign co-founded the production team D. R. U. G. S. Alongside longtime friends and fellow music producers Chordz 3D and G Casso, including Nate 3D, Buddah Shampoo, Fuego, DJ Mustard and DJ Dahi. In 2012, Ty Dolla Sign signed a contract with Atlantic Records. After signing with Atlantic Records, he released his first solo mixtape, titled Beach House and he followed with the mixtapes sequel, Beach House 2, on July 1,2013. Beach House 2 features guest appearances from Too $hort, Wiz Khalifa, Juicy J and Kirko Bangz, the following day, it was revealed that Ty Dolla Sign signed a deal with Wiz Khalifas Taylor Gang Records
15.
Lil Wayne
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Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American hip hop recording artist and author from New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1991, at the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, in 1996, Lil Wayne joined the southern hip hop group Hot Boys, with his Cash Money label-mates Juvenile, Young Turk and Lil Doogie. Hot Boys debuted with Get It How U Live. that same year, Most of the groups success came with their platinum-selling album Guerrilla Warfare and the 1999 single Bling Bling. Along with being the flagship artist of Cash Money Records, Lil Wayne is also the Chief Executive Officer of his own imprint, Young Money Entertainment. Lil Waynes solo debut album Tha Block Is Hot, was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and his subsequent albums, Lights Out and 500 Degreez, went on to be certified gold. Wayne reached higher popularity with his fourth album Tha Carter, which was led by the single Go D. J. and his appearance on Destinys Childs Top 10 single Soldier, that same year. The album was followed by Tha Carter II, as well as several mixtapes, Wayne gained more prominence with his sixth album Tha Carter III, which became his most successful album to date, with first-week sales of over one million copies in the United States. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album and includes the hit singles Lollipop, A Milli, following the success of Tha Carter III, Wayne decided to record a rock-esque album titled Rebirth. The album, released in 2010, was certified gold by the RIAA, in March 2010, Lil Wayne began serving an 8-month jail sentence in New York after being convicted of criminal possession of a weapon stemming from an incident in July 2007. Waynes eighth album I Am Not a Human Being, was released during his incarceration and his 2011 album and first following his release, Tha Carter IV, sold 964,000 copies in its first week of availability in the United States. It includes the singles 6 Foot 7 Foot, How to Love, on September 27,2012, Lil Wayne passed Elvis Presley as the male with the most entries on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, with 109 songs. The record has since passed by other artists. Lil Waynes thirteenth studio album, Tha Carter V has been delayed multiple times and has no scheduled release date, Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. was born on September 27,1982, and grew up in the Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana. His mother, a cook, gave birth to him when she was 19 years old and his parents divorced when he was 2, and his father permanently abandoned the family. Although Wayne and Birdman have a relationship and Birdman calls Carter his son, Waynes biological father. Lil Wayne has also spoken about his stepfather, Rabbit. Carter has a dedicated to Rabbit, who was murdered before Carter became a star. Carter enrolled in the program of Lafayette Elementary School and in the drama club of Eleanor McMain Secondary School
16.
2 Chainz
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Tauheed Epps, known professionally as 2 Chainz, is a Grammy award-winning American rapper from College Park, Georgia. He initially gained recognition for being one-half of the Southern hip hop duo Playaz Circle, alongside his friend and fellow rapper. They are perhaps best known for being signed to fellow Georgia-based rapper Ludacris Disturbing tha Peace label, in February 2012, Epps signed a solo record deal with Def Jam Records, an imprint of Universal Music Group. The following August, he released his studio album Based on a T. R. U. II, Me Time was released on September 11,2013 and it was supported by the singles Feds Watching and Used 2. 2 Chainz was born Tauheed Epps in College Park, Georgia and he attended North Clayton High School, where he played basketball and graduated second in his class. While in high school, he dealt marijuana and was arrested for cocaine possession when he was 15 years old. He later attended Alabama State University on a scholarship, and played on its team for the 1996–97 season. Theres a lot of stuff on there, to the point that every time I try to fix one thing, something else comes out. In fact, he attended Alabama State for his freshman year only, I got into some trouble, went somewhere else, and came back. But I graduated, and that’s that, Epps formed the hip hop duo Playaz Circle in College Park, Georgia in 1997, with his high school friend Earl Conyers, while Epps adopted Tity Boi as his moniker. After taking interest in Playaz Circle, Ludacris began to record songs with the group. Ludacris soon became one of the rappers in the Southern United States. After hearing of their situation, Ludacris requested of Epps that the duo join his newly formed record label Disturbing Tha Peace, Epps agreed to sign, although Conyers did not officially join the label until his mother regained her health, a year after the initial signing. Their debut album Supply & Demand, was released on October 30,2007, the lead single and their debut single, Duffle Bag Boy, became an urban hit single. The song features Lil Wayne, and was performed by the duo at the BET Hip Hop Awards, the duo released their second studio album Flight 360, The Takeoff, on September 29,2009. In January 2010, Playaz Circle filmed a video for their single Big Dawg featuring Lil Wayne. Shortly afterwards, Epps left Disturbing tha Peace, a move he claimed was taken in order to advance his career, although Ludacris was initially reluctant to allow Epps to leave the label, he eventually accepted the decision
17.
Jeezy
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Jay Wayne Jenkins, better known by his stage name Young Jeezy, is an American rap artist from Atlanta, Georgia. In 1998, he launched the label imprint CTE World, aside from his solo career, Jeezy is the de facto leader of the southern hip hop group United Streets Dopeboyz of America, and is a former member of the Bad Boy Records rap group Boyz n da Hood. Jeezy is also known for helping pioneer the hip hop subgenre trap music, alongside fellow Atlanta-based rappers T. I. Jeezy embarked on his music career in 2001, as Lil J, with the release of Thuggin Under the Influence. He later joined Boyz n da Hood in 2005, the year his solo major label debut Lets Get It. Its lead single Soul Survivor, which features R&B singer Akon and his subsequent albums, The Inspiration and The Recession, both yielded chart-topping singles. Jay Wayne Jenkins was born in Columbia, South Carolina and relocated to Atlanta, because his parents were separated, custody of him transferred between family members frequently. In an interview with XXL magazine, he described his childhood as empty, in 1994, he spent nine months in YCA, a boot camp in Fort Stewart, Georgia, for narcotics possession. Jeezy released his first independent album, Thuggin Under the Influence and it featured artists such as Freddy J. Kinky B, Fidank, and Lil Jon, who also produced some of the tracks. In 2003, Jeezy released Come Shop wit Me, a set featuring completely new tracks with some songs from T. U. I. Jeezy signed with Bad Boy Records in 2004 and joined the group Boyz n da Hood, whose self-titled album was released in June 2005 and peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200 albums charts. In May 2004, Jazze Phas manager Henry Noonie Lee showed Young Jeezys demo to his friend Shakir Stewart, Vice President Artist, Stewart fell in love with it the first time heard it and took it to L. A. Reid. Reid recognised the talent and gave Stewart the green light to sign him, as the hottest thing on the street at the time, various labels - including Warner and Interscope – were after his signature. However, Young Jeezy decided he wanted to be in business with Stewart, as a result, signed with Def Jam Records. Young Jeezys debut single off his album, And Then What featuring Mannie Fresh. Young Jeezys major label debut, Lets Get It, Thug Motivation 101, was released on July 26,2005 and it debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200, selling 172,000 copies in its first week and was later certified Platinum by the RIAA. The second single off the album, Soul Survivor featuring Akon reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, the third single, My Hood, reached #77 on the Billboard Hot 100. In an interview with HitQuarters, A&R Shakir Stewart said that Jeezy had recorded over 60 songs for the album, in interviews and on several records, Young Jeezy has affirmed his resistance to commercialism in his music. Maintaining his street credibility, according to Young Jeezy, is of the utmost concern to him as an artist, in 2005, Young Jeezy was featured in several popular hip hop songs including Gucci Manes Icy and Boyz n da Hoods Dem Boyz
18.
Nipsey Hussle
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Ermias Asghedom, better known by his stage name Nipsey Hussle, is an American rapper from Los Angeles, California. In 2005, Hussle and sammy recorded their first mixtape, titled Slauson Boy Volume 1, in 2008 Nipsey released two mixtapes, Bullets Aint Got No Name, Vol.1 and Vol.2, after signing with Cinematic Music Group and Epic Records. In 2009, he released his single, Hussle in the House. Later that year, Nipsey released a third mixtape Bullets Aint Got No Name and he then collaborated with Drake on the song Killer, and also appeared, along with Snoop Dogg and Problem on the song Upside Down, which featured on his 2010s album Malice n Wonderland. In 2010, Nipsey appeared on the song We Are the World 25 for Haiti, and was chosen to be the part as one of the XXL Magazines Annual Freshman Top Ten, a selection of ten up-and-coming artists. XXL labeled him Most Determined of his class, and LA Weekly called him the next big L. A. MC, Hussle was expected to release his debut album, South Central State of Mind, in October 2010. Prior to release, the album was supported by the single Feelin Myself featuring Lloyd, concurrently, he announced that he plans on releasing a mixtape with a fellow rapper Jay Rock, titled Red and Blue Make Green. Following the release of a video for Feelin Myself, the album was set for a December 21,2010 release, however. After going through trouble with Epic Records, Nipsey was released from the label in late 2010, after his release, he went on to found his own record label, All Money In. On December 21,2010, he released his first All Money In Records mixtape, titled The Marathon, on November 1,2011 Hussle released a sequel titled The Marathon Continues, which features L. A. rappers YG and Dom Kennedy. Both mixtapes are available via iTunes, in 2012, it was rumored that Nipsey Hussle would be signing to Rick Rosss Maybach Music Group label. Nipsey made a guest appearance on a fellow rapper YGs 2012 single Bitches Aint Shit, the song debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 100 and on the Heatseekers Songs chart at number 11. On April 17,2012, Hussle released an album with a fellow rapper Blanco. The album features guest appearances from YG, Mistah FAB, Yukmouth, B-Legit, Kokane, in May 2012, he released a single Proud of That, which features guest vocals from Rick Ross. He was also featured on MMGs song Fountain of Youth, which appears on the second album Self Made Vol.2. The music video was released on October 1,2012, in December 2012, Hussle hinted more at the signing with Maybach Music Group/Warner Bros. Records, it was but said that he would still be looking for the right label and he also announced that he is planning on releasing a mixtape with a fellow West Coast rapper and frequent collaborator YG, titled Two of America’s Most Wanted in 2013. It was set to feature Dom Kennedy and DJ Mustard, Hussle performed at the 2013 Paid Dues festival on March 30,2013 in California
19.
Wiz Khalifa
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Cameron Jibril Thomaz, better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, songwriter, and actor. He released his album, Show and Prove, in 2006. His Eurodance-influenced single, Say Yeah, received radio airplay, charting on the Rhythmic Top 40. Khalifa parted with Warner Bros. and released his album, Deal or No Deal. He released the mixtape Kush and Orange Juice as a download in April 2010. He is also known for his debut single for Atlantic, Black and Yellow. His debut album for the label, Rolling Papers, was released on March 29,2011 and he followed that album with O. N. I. F. C. On December 4,2012, which was backed by the singles Work Hard, Play Hard, Wiz released his fourth album Blacc Hollywood on August 18,2014, backed by the lead single We Dem Boyz. In March 2015, he released See You Again for the soundtrack of the film Furious 7, Khalifa was born Cameron Jibril Thomaz on September 8,1987 in Minot, North Dakota, to parents serving in the military. His parents divorced when Khalifa was about three years old and he is a military brat with his parents military service caused him to move regularly. Khalifa lived in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan before settling in Pittsburgh where he attended Taylor Allderdice High School and his stage name is derived from Khalifa, an Arabic word meaning successor, and wisdom, which was shortened to Wiz when Khalifa was a young boy. He got a tattoo of his name on his 17th birthday. He cites Jimi Hendrix, Camp Lo, The Notorious B. I. G. Rostrum Records president Benjy Grinberg first heard about Wiz Khalifa in 2004 when the rappers contribution to a mixtape of various new Pittsburgh artists attracted his interest. Khalifa signed to the label shortly after and began a period of artist development. Khalifa released his first mixtape, Prince of the City, Welcome to Pistolvania, the mixtape paved the way for his first full-length album entitled Show and Prove in 2006. Khalifa was declared an artist to watch that year in Rolling Stone magazine and his debut Warner Bros. single Say Yeah reached number 25 on the Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 music chart and number 20 on Billboards Hot Rap Tracks. The song samples Better Off Alone by Alice Deejay, Khalifa appeared with The Game, David Banner and Play-n-Skillz at U92s Summer Jam at the USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City, Utah on August 2,2008. Khalifa released the mixtapes Star Power in September 2008, and Flight School in April 2009 on Rostrum Records, Khalifa parted ways with Warner Bros. Records in July 2009 after numerous delays in releasing his planned debut album for the label, First Flight
20.
Boosie Badazz
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Torrence Hatch, known professionally as Boosie Badazz, is an American rapper from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Hatch was bestowed the nickname Boosie by his family, and he was raised in Southside Baton Rouge, as Boosie, he has released numerous regular studio albums while also contributing to a number of mixtapes and compilations. Hatch served time in the Louisiana State Penitentiary from 2009 to 2014 and he was released early on March 5,2014. On October 20,2014, Lil Boosie officially changed his name to Boosie Badazz, Lil Boosies cousin Young Bleed introduced Boosie to Baton Rouge rapper C-Loc in the late 1990s. He was mentored by Young Bleed and C-Loc and joined the group Concentration Camp, the group consisted of Young Bleed, C-Loc, Happy Perez, Boo, Max Minelli, J-Von, Lee Tyme and Lucky Knuckles. He eventually debuted on C-Loc’s fifth album, ‘It’s A Gamble’ in 2000 under his old alias Boosie and Concentration Camp third studio album Camp III, the departure of Young Bleed from the Camp helped put Lil Boosie in a prime position amongst the group. Alongside C-Loc and Max Minelli, he served as one of the “faces” of the Camp, at 17 years of age, he recorded his debut album, the aptly-titled Youngest of da Camp. The album production was handled by Happy Perez, and featured C-Loc, Max Minelli. In 2001 he joined Trill Entertainment backed by its CEO the late Pimp C of UGK, soon after, Trill independently released the album For My Thugz under his new alias Lil Boosie in 2002. The album featured Pimp C, Young Bleed, Webbie while he put out his first mixtape title Boosie 2002 featuring contributions by Max Minelli. Later in the summer of 2003, Boosie collaborated with Webbie on the album Ghetto Stories, in 2004, the duo worked together again on Trill Azz Mixtape Vol.1, which also featured an appearance of Torrence “Bad Azz”. In the same year, he released Trill Azz Mixes II which introduced Phat and he paired up again with Webbie, to release their second compilation album, Gangsta Musik. He caught the eye of some Universal Music Group representatives, in 2004 Lil Boosie and South Coast Coalition released Both Sides of the Track. Boosie also released a mixtape title Bad Ass with a few new tracks like Trill Shit. It also featured the track I Smoke, I Drank by Body Head Bangerz featuring Boosie and Young Bleed off their debut album Body Head Bangerz, January 1,2005 Boosie teamed up with Lava House Records to release United We Stand, Divided We Fall. He also released Street Code with Pat Lowrenzo, in 2005, Lil Boosie released Bad Ass to promote Bad Azz. In late January 2005, Boosie signed a deal with Warner Bros, in early 2006, Trill released Bad Ass Mixtape Vol.1 as a follow-up to. In 2006, Boosies major label debut album Bad Azz was released and it contained the single Zoom featuring Yung Joc
21.
Yo Gotti
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Mario Mims, better known by his stage name Yo Gotti, is an American rapper. In 1996, Gotti released his debut album Youngstas On a Come Up under the alias Lil Yo. He went to release From Da Dope Game 2 Da Rap Game, Self-Explanatory, Life, Back 2 da Basics, Live from the Kitchen, I Am, Mims grew up in Ridgecrest Apartments of Frayser, Memphis. He began his career around the age of 14, rapping as Lil Yo, affiliated with DJ Sound. Between 2000 and 2006, Yo Gotti released a string of independent albums, from Da Dope Game 2 Da Rap Game, Self-Explanatory, Life and Back 2 da Basics. After several delays Yo Gotti released his label debut studio album Live From The Kitchen on January 10,2012. The albums original first single was titled 5 Star and it was released on May 20,2009, the single peaked at 79 on the Hot 100,19 on U. S R&B and 11 on U. S Rap. Women Lie, Men Lie featuring Lil Wayne the albums single was released on December 11,2009. The song peaked at 81 on 100,22 on the U. S R&B and 12 on the U. S Rap, look In the Mirror was the third single released 7 months after the second single on July 27,2010. The song peaked at 97 on the U. S R&B chart, Live From The Kitchen debuted at number 12 on the US Billboard 200, with 16,000 copies sold in its first week of sales in the United States. After three weeks on the chart the album has sold 36,000 copies in the United States, in 2012 due to Gottis views of the low sales of his debut album he took his departure from RCA Records & Polo Grounds Music. On October 17,2012, he released the 7th version of his mixtape series Cocaine Muzik entitled Cocaine Muzik 7. In early 2013, Gotti announced that he and his label CMG had been signed to a deal with Epic Records from longtime business partner L. A. Reid. On May 28,2013, Yo Gotti announced that his studio album would be titled I Am. The first single from his studio album I Am is titled Act Right and features Young Jeezy. The song debuted at #5 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart and at #39 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. As of September 21, it has peaked at #100 on the Hot 100, making it Gotti and YGs third Hot 100 entry, #33 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, in July 2013, it was announced that the album would be released on November 19,2013. On September 2,2013, Yo Gotti released the mixtape Nov 19th, on October 7,2013, the albums second official single King Shit featuring T. I. was sent to mainstream urban radio in the United States
22.
Iamsu!
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Sudan Ameer Williams better known by his stage name Iamsu. is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer most known for his feature on Up. and his single Famous. He has produced and featured artists such as Tinashe, Sage the Gemini, Kehlani, Hit Boy, Wiz Khalifa,2 Chainz, DJ Mustard, Casey Veggies, Lil B, G-Eazy. Sudan Ameer Williams was born on November 16,1989, in Richmond, California, however, at a young age, he would be listening to artists such as Kanye West, R. Kelly, Aaliyah, Marching Band, The Grammar Band and reggae music. At the age of 14, he began making music, around that time, he was always playing with instruments and messing around with music. Once he attended school, he be started learning about how to make beats on the computer. In 2007, after graduating from Pinole Valley High School, he began college at Cal State East Bay, once he started to get recognition, he moved to the online classes, however, he went back to in-class schooling during his senior year. In 2009, Iamsu. started rapping under his stage name Su, on July 4,2010, he released his first mixtape, titled Su. Produced, co-wrote and featured on LoveRances hit single Up. which also included fellow rapper 50 Cent on a remix, the song peaked at number 46 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and reached at number 2 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. He followed with his appearance on E-40s hit song Function, along with rappers Problem, the song peaked at number 62 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. In 2012, he featured on Jonn Harts track Who Booty. Releaseed his previous mixtapes, Kilt, Young California and Su, the Right Thing, on iTunes for sale. Released another mixtape, titled $uzy 6 Speed and this mixtape features guest appearances from Juvenile, Problem and Wiz Khalifa. It contained the single Mobbin and received acclaim upon the release. On February 13,2013, both Iamsu. and Problem, released a mixtape, titled Million Dollar Afro. The mixtape would be praised by Tom Breihan of Stereogum and Spin and this mixtape features guest appearances from Juvenile, King L, Bad Lucc, Too Short, Omarion, Short Dawg and Wiz Khalifa, among others. To promote the mixtape, he been touring with Problem on the 10-stop Million Dollar Afro Tour, on March 5,2013, Spin named Iamsu. as the tenth Hottest MC in the Game. In May 2013, Iamsu. began his first headlining tour, in promotion of his upcoming mixtape. Released Kilt II as a mixtape, for free and to iTunes on July 9,2013
23.
TeeFlii
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Christian Jones, better known by his stage name TeeFLii, is an American singer, songwriter, and Record producer from South Central, Los Angeles, California. He is currently signed to Epic Records and he is best known for his debut commercial single 24 Hours, which was premiered in March 2014, and features 2 Chainz. His debut studio album Starr was released February 3,2015 by Epic Records, TeeFlii first learned of music as a kid in church, drawn to keyboards after seeing how much his grandfather, who was a pastor, paid his organ players. Frequenting his grandfathers church, he learned to play instruments, such as the organ, piano, guitar. TeeFlii had both a spoiled and wild childhood, the spoiled part being that, he played drums for Barbra Streisand at a Democratic Party event. He spoke of the wild part saying, I was bad—fighting, stealing, i’d go take your bike, bring it to my backyard, spray-paint it, try to ride it around. Throughout his childhood, his mother battled drug addiction, and he did not know his father until his teens. TeeFlii started smoking weed at age eight and moved out of his parents place for good at age thirteen. He then started writing songs for people to get the vent off and started seeing a better chance at stability in his life. Early on his career prior to releasing his first project, TeeFlii collaborated with West Coast-based rappers such as Problem, YG, Nipsey Hussle and his debut mixtape AnNieRuOTAY1 was released on December 1,2012. It featured collaborations with Skeme, Problem, Bad Lucc, AnNieRuOTAY1 was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. His second official mixtape AnNieRuOTAY2, The TakeOver was released on March 5,2013 and it featured production by DJ Mustard,1500 or Nothin and TeeFlii himself. At the same time he was recording his next mixtape, a project produced by DJ Mustard to be released soon. He also indicated that he was working on a project with Nipsey Hussle, AnNieRuOTAY2 was met with mainstream coverage from publications such as Chicago Reader, and Fact, among others. On July 4,2013, TeeFlii released his mixtape in eight months. It featured collaborations with Dom Kennedy, Casey Veggies, Ty Dolla Sign, Omarion and E-40, the mixtape would receive positive reviews upon release, Stereogum would end up naming it the Mixtape of the Week. Rolling Stone also would name it the fourth best mixtape of 2013 and they said, Where Mustards beats normally evoke a strip clubs booty-whomp, here he pushes himself, brilliantly, towards R&B smoothness. On July 16,2013, the video for This D was premiered by Vice
24.
Metacritic
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Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of media products, music albums, games, movies, TV shows, DVDs, and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged, Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc Doyle, and Julie Doyle Roberts. The site provides an excerpt from each review and hyperlinks to its source, a color of Green, Yellow or Red summarizes the critics recommendations and therefore the general appeal of the product to reviewers and, to a lesser extent, the public. It is regarded as the game industrys foremost review aggregator. Metacritics scoring converts each review into a percentage, either mathematically from the mark given, before being averaged, the scores are weighted according to the critics fame, stature, and volume of reviews. Metacritic was launched in July 1999 by Marc Doyle, his sister Julie Doyle Roberts, rotten Tomatoes was already compiling movie reviews, but Doyle, Roberts, and Dietz saw an opportunity to cover a broader range of media. They sold Metacritic to CNET in 2005, CNET and Metacritic are now owned by the CBS Corporation. Nick Wingfield of The Wall Street Journal wrote in September 2004, Mr. Doyle,36, is now a product manager at CNET. Speaking of video games, Doyle said, A site like ours helps people cut through. unobjective promotional language and he added that the review process was not taken as seriously when unconnected magazines and websites provided reviews in isolation. In August 2010, the appearance was revamped, reaction from users was overwhelmingly negative. Certain publications are given more significance because of their stature, games Editor Marc Doyle was interviewed by Keith Stuart of The Guardian to get a look behind the metascoring process. Stuart wrote, the phenomenon, namely Metacritic and GameRankings, have become an enormously important element of online games journalism over the past few years. The ranging of metascores is, Metacritic is regarded as the foremost online review site for the video game industry. Nick Wingfield of The Wall Street Journal has written that Metacritic influence the sales of games and he explains its influence as coming from the higher cost of buying video games than music or movie tickets. Many executives say that low scores can hurt the sales potential. He claimed that a number of businesses and financial analysts use Metacritic as an early indicator of a games potential sales and, by extension. In 2004, Jason Hall of Warner Bros. began including quality metrics in contracts with partners licensing its movies for games, if a product does not at least achieve a specific score, some deals require the publisher to pay higher royalties. In 2008, Microsoft began using Metacritic averages to de-list underperforming Xbox Live Arcade games and these are the top 10 individual games with the highest scores on the site as of 2 April 2017
25.
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
26.
AbsolutePunk
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AbsolutePunk was a website, online community, and alternative music news source founded by Jason Tate. The primary musical genres of focus were emo and pop punk, the very next day on April 1, all of the domain names and social media accounts associated with AbsolutePunk were being redirected to Chorus. fm. Founded June 6,2000 by Jason Tate, the focused on music industry news. The site also allowed user interaction via a vBulletin Internet Forum system, users could register their own personalized account, create a profile, and comment on nearly every portion of the site. Special accounts were afforded to industry figures and band members denoting them as such, the website originally started as a Blink-182/MxPx fan site. In 2005, the site was drawing six million hits daily, by 2006, the website was noted for engaging teenagers, and was beginning to chip away at the dominance of MySpace, according to OMMA online media magazine. The social media network Buzznet purchased AbsolutePunk in May 2008, AbsolutePunks community included over 500,000 music fans, making it one of the largest alternative music zines on the Internet. The site was run by contributor-turned-moderators who worked for the site but were not paid. They added news posts, wrote reviews and conducted interviews all in their free time, aBSOLUTExclusives and recent album reviews were often displayed prominently at the top of the sites news feed, while other stories were simply listed in descending chronological order. The staff conducted frequent interviews with bands and often asked the AbsolutePunk community to contribute questions in advance. They also ran numerous contests via both an opt-in lottery system and through news items, with the latter usually awarding prizes to the users who replied the fastest while meeting certain criteria. One of AbsolutePunks main purposes was to music fans with one another through its extensive online forums. The forums featured over 318,500 registered members and they were divided into a number of different sections, split into categories such as entertainment, sports, politics, and education. Users were encouraged to contribute their own media to the site, as most of the site functioned on the same bulletin board system, forum activity would often spill out into album reviews and news stories as well. The website gained a following in the alternative music scene over the years, allowing it to sponsor various tours. In the August 2007 issue of Blender, owner Jason Tate was named #18 in their list of Top 25 Most Influential People in Online Music, on June 1,2005 vocalist and pianist Andrew McMahon of the bands Something Corporate and Jacks Mannequin was diagnosed with leukemia. AbsolutePunk raised approximately $16,400 for the Leukemia Research Foundation by selling over 6,000 orange gel bracelets online, the wristbands read I Will Fight in reference to a well-known song by Something Corporate
27.
Complex (magazine)
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Complex is a New York–based media platform for youth culture which was founded as a bi-monthly magazine by fashion designer Marc Eckō. Complex reports on trends in style, pop culture, music, sports and sneakers with a focus on streetwear, sneaker culture, hip-hop, Complex currently reaches over 120 million unique users per month across its owned and operated and partner sites, socials and YouTube channels. The magazine ceased publication with the December 2016/January 2017 issue, in 2016 December, Complex acquired the website Trillera. com. In 2016, it became a subsidiary of Verizon and Hearst. Complex was established in 2002 by the founder of the Eckō Unltd, Brand, Marc Eckō, as a print magazine aimed at providing young males a report of the latest in hip-hop, fashion and pop culture without regard to race. The name Complex evolved from a slogan developed to promote the Eckō Unltd, the idea was to create a mens magazine that combined Eckōs streetwear and hip-hop attitude along with the style of Japanese mens magazines by providing consumer guides. This was achieved by creating a magazine in two sections, one magazine, and the other a shopping guide. In 2005, Complex was joined by the senior editor of Vibe magazine. He became editor-in-chief and chief content officer a year later, a position he retains as of February 2014. By 2006, Complex had begun to turn a profit which allowed the magazine to consider an expansion of their online presence, in April 2007, Complex soft-launched a media network with four websites, NahRight, Nice Kicks, SlamxHype and MoeJackson. In September 2007, Complex launched Complex Media in order to capitalize on the trend toward digital content. In 2010, ad sales grew 154%, according to comScore, Complex got 12 million unique hits in March 2012. This encouraged large brands such as Coors, AT&T, Ford, McDonalds, Nike, Adidas, Complex now includes over 100 sites. In 2011, Complex acquired Pigeons and Planes, a music and rap blog. In 2013, Complex launched the music site Do Androids Dance and Green Label. That year, Complex also acquired the sneakerhead culture magazine and website Sole Collector, on November 4,2013, Complex premiered a new logo and cover design on Instagram that would appear online, as well as on the December 2013 Eminem cover issue. In 2013, Complex partnered with Mountain Dew to launch Green Label an entertainment, in 2014, Complex launched an NBA-themed website called Triangle Offense in a partnership with Bacardi rum. In August 2014, Complex ranked #3 in the United States in a ComScore survey of visitors between the ages of 18 and 34 with 20.3 million in that demographic per month
28.
Exclaim!
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Exclaim. is a monthly Canadian music magazine that features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with special focus on Canadian and cutting-edge artists. Content is based on the print publication, publishes 11 issues per year. Exclaim. began as a discussion among campus and community radio programmers at Ryersons CKLN-FM in 1991 and it was started by Ian Danzig, together with other programmers and Toronto musicians. The goal of the publication was to support great Canadian music that was otherwise going unheralded, the group worked through 1991 to produce their first issue in April 1992, with monthly issues being produced since. Ian Danzig has been the publisher of the magazine since its start, similarly to an alternative weekly newspaper, the magazine is distributed as a free publication at campus and community radio stations, bars, record stores, libraries, and coffee shops. The magazines website features reviews, interviews and profiles not found in the print publication and it includes a news page that is updated with the latest in music and music-related culture. The site reaches 211,000 unique users every month, TV, which includes weekly instalments of video interviews with musicians, as well as a section titled Click Hear where readers are guided to the latest music released on the Internet. As well as music, exclaim. ca reviews films, DVDs, music DVDs, concerts, exclaim. ca is also increasing its coverage of film festivals, such as the Toronto International Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival. The magazine also covers smaller Toronto festivals such as the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival, the magazines website also has contests where readers can enter for a chance to win various music-related prizes. These artists are featured on the cover of Exclaims monthly issue, x3 artists of the month have included Knaan, Malajube, Thunderheist, Japandroids, Apostle of Hustle, You Say Party. We Say Die. and The Rural Alberta Advantage
29.
Pitchfork (website)
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Pitchfork is an American online magazine launched in 1995 by Ryan Schreiber, based in Chicago, Illinois and owned by Condé Nast. The site generally concentrates on new music, but Pitchfork journalists have also reviewed reissues, in late 1995, Ryan Schreiber, a recent high school graduate, created the magazine in Minneapolis. Influenced by local fanzines and KUOM, Schreiber, who had no writing experience. At first being Turntable, the site was updated monthly with interviews and reviews, in May 1996, the site began publishing daily and was renamed Pitchfork, alluding to Tony Montanas tattoo in Scarface. In early 1999, Schreiber relocated Pitchfork to Chicago, Illinois, by then, the site had expanded to four full-length album reviews daily, as well as sporadic interviews, features, and columns. It had also begun garnering a following for its coverage of underground music and its writing style. In October, the added a daily music news section. Pitchfork has launched a variety of subsidiary websites, Pitchfork. tv, a website displaying videos related to many independent music acts, launched in April 2008. It features bands that are found on Pitchfork. In July 2010, Pitchfork announced Altered Zones, a blog devoted to underground. On 21 May 2011, Pitchfork announced a partnership with Kill Screen, Altered Zones was closed on November 30. On December 26,2012, Pitchfork launched Nothing Major, a website that covered visual arts such as fine art, Nothing Major closed in October 2013. On October 13,2015, Condé Nast announced that it had acquired Pitchfork, following the sale, Schreiber remained as editor-in-chief. On March 13,2016, Pitchfork was redesigned, some publications have cited Pitchfork in having played a part in breaking artists such as Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Interpol, The Go. Conversely, Pitchfork has also seen as being a negative influence on some indie artists. A dismissive 0.0 review of former Dismemberment Plan frontman Travis Morrisons Travistan album led to a sales drop. On the other hand, an endorsement from Pitchfork – which dispenses its approval one-tenth of a point at a time, up to a maximum of 10 points – is very valuable, indeed. Examples of Pitchforks impact include, Arcade Fire is among the bands most commonly cited to have benefited from a Pitchfork review
30.
Rolling Stone
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Rolling Stone is an American biweekly magazine that focuses on popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner, who is still the publisher. It was first known for its coverage and for political reporting by Hunter S. Thompson. In the 1990s, the magazine shifted focus to a readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors. In recent years, it has resumed its traditional mix of content, Rolling Stone magazine was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and Ralph Gleason. To get it off the ground, Wenner borrowed $7,500 from his own family and from the parents of his soon-to-be wife, Jane Schindelheim. The first issue carried a date of November 9,1967. Some authors have attributed the name solely to Dylans hit single, At Gleasons suggestion, Rolling Stone initially identified with and reported the hippie counterculture of the era. In the very first edition, Wenner wrote that Rolling Stone is not just about the music, in the 1970s, Rolling Stone began to make a mark with its political coverage, with the likes of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson writing for the magazines political section. Thompson first published his most famous work Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas within the pages of Rolling Stone, where he remained a contributing editor until his death in 2005. In the 1970s, the magazine also helped launch the careers of prominent authors, including Cameron Crowe, Lester Bangs, Joe Klein, Joe Eszterhas, Patti Smith. It was at point that the magazine ran some of its most famous stories. One interviewer, speaking for a number of his peers, said that he bought his first copy of the magazine upon initial arrival on his college campus. In 1977, the magazine moved its headquarters from San Francisco to New York City, editor Jann Wenner said San Francisco had become a cultural backwater. During the 1980s, the magazine began to shift towards being an entertainment magazine. Music was still a dominant topic, but there was increasing coverage of celebrities in television, films, the magazine also initiated its annual Hot Issue during this time. Rolling Stone was initially known for its coverage and for Thompsons political reporting. In the 1990s, the changed its format to appeal to a younger readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors
31.
Tiny Mix Tapes
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Tiny Mix Tapes is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, originally called Tiny Mixtapes Gone to Heaven and hosted on GeoCities, the webzine moved to its current domain in 2001. Tiny Mix Tapes is a reviewer on Metacritic. The writing staff is composed of volunteers who often use pen names, the co-founder and editor-in-chief is Minneapolis-resident Marvin Lin. Tiny Mix Tapes offers news, music reviews, movie reviews, similarly, Eureka consists of reviews highlighted by the site as particularly noteworthy or exciting. There is also a section devoted to interviews, articles, fest reviews, as well as a Live Blog. In 2009, Tiny Mix Tapes added a columns section, as of 2008, Tiny Mix Tapes started reviewing films and now has a section devoted to film. This section also features on film-makers and other numerous subjects within the film medium. The Automatic Mix Tape Generator, or AMG, was created to offer two-way communication with the website, started in 2002, readers may submit a title or the theme for a mixtape, and a group of volunteers will compile a track list. Due to the volume of requests as well as request redundancy. The Mix Robots produce and submit track lists fulfilling the request as they interpret it, mixtape track lists are then available on the website. Most of the songs on the mix tapes come from indie or underground bands/musicians, in 2008, Trillian, the AMG editor, was on Talk of the Nation to discuss Valentines Day mixes. At the beginning of 2009, Tiny Mix Tapes began a feature podcast called Chocolate Grinder, published approximately twice a month, each installment sees a writer collecting ten brand new tracks they want to shed light on and mix it as a continuous stream or download. The tracks are posted for stream or download in a single file with a unique name. Currently, Chocolate Grinder remains a staple of Tiny Mix Tapes daily media content, in April 2009, the site began selling a benefit compilation CD/LP to benefit the victims of the War in Darfur. On March 30,2007, Tiny Mix Tapes announced it was hosting a festival in Minnesota, at this festival, long-since dissolved indie band Neutral Milk Hotel were billed to be reuniting all over your Cheerios as the headlining act. Amidst a blog flurry, and articles disputing the legitimacy of the event in Billboard and Prefix, the festival was revealed as an early April Fools Day joke later the same day
32.
XXL (magazine)
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XXL is an American hip hop magazine, published by Townsquare Media, founded in 1997. In August 1997, Harris Publications released the first issue of XXL and it featured rappers Jay-Z and Master P on a double cover. In December 2006, XXL took over the hip hop producer and DJ magazine Scratch. However Scratch shut down less than a later in September 2007. Other titles with limited runs have been launched under the XXL brand, including Hip-Hop Soul, Eye Candy, XXL has released many other special projects including tour programs, mixtapes and exclusive DVDs. XXL also maintains a website, which provides daily hip hop news. In 2014, Townsquare Media acquired XXL, King and Antenna from Harris Publications, on October 14,2014, Townsquare announced it would continue print publication of XXL. In December 2014 the company reported that the magazine would be published on a quarterly basis, the magazines past editors include Reginald C. Dennis, Sheena Lester, Elliott Wilson and Datwon Thomas, in May 2009, Datwon Thomas resigned from XXL and executive editor Vanessa Satten, who had been with XXL since 1998, was named the new Editor-in-Chief. In November 2008 XXL released XXL Raps Volume 1, which included music from 50 Cent, G-Unit, Common, Jim Jones, on August 20,2013 XXL released its 150th issue, also celebrating its sixteenth anniversary. The issue featured the first solo cover on the magazine from Drake, starting in 2007, XXL also releases its annual Top 10 Freshman list. The issue features the ten picks of who to watch out for, and on the cover of the magazine and showcases new rappers that arent well known, the list has become known to create buzz and is credited for giving many artists their first taste of fame
33.
Music criticism
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In this sense, it is a branch of musical aesthetics. The musicologist Winton Dean has suggested that music is probably the most difficult of the arts to criticize, like dramatic art, music is recreated at every performance, and criticism may therefore be directed both at the text and the performance. The absence of a clearly evolved or consensual musical aesthetics has also tended to make music criticism a highly subjective issue, there is no counter-check outside the critics own personality. Critical references to music can be found in literature, including, for example, in Platos Laws. According to Richard Taruskin, the concert life of late 18th-century London meant that the role. In France in the 1750s, the Querelle des Bouffons generated essays from Jean-Jacques Rousseau and others, the English composer Charles Avison published the first work on musical criticism in the English language - an Essay on Musical Expression published in 1752. In it, Avison claims that since the time of Palestrina and Raphael, typically until the late eighteenth century music criticism centred on vocal rather than instrumental music - vocal music. Was the apex of aesthetic hierarchy, one knew what music was expressing. The last years of the century reflected both a change of patronage of music from the aristocracy to the rising middle-classes and the rise of Romanticism in the arts. At the same time the proportion of new music to music in concert programming began to decline. This was particularly the case in respect of the rise of Beethovens reputation in his last year and this gave rise both to writings on the value of the canon and also to writings by composers and their supporters defending newer music. M. Schlesinger and edited by A. B, marx, and the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik founded in 1834 in Leipzig by Robert Schumann and Friedrich Wieck, and later edited by Franz Brendel. In 1835 James William Davison began his career as a music critic. Music journalism for reporting on classical and popular music in the media Category, Music critics Avison, bujic, Bojan Criticism of Music in The Oxford Companion to Music, Oxford Music Online, accessed 1 January 2013. Hoffmann as a Writer on Music, in Hoffmann, 1-22, jewry in Music, Entry to the Profession from the Enlightenment to Richard Wagner. FromMendelssohnto Wagner, Memoirs of J. W. Davison, Criticism, in New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol. London, Macmillan ISBN 0-333-23111-2 Hoffmann, E. T. A. ed. David Charlton. E, ISBN0521235200 Taruskin, Richard. Music in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, Oxford, Oxford University Press ISBN 978-0-19-538482-6 Weber, from Miscellany to Homogeneity in Concert Programming, in Poetics 29, 127-34
34.
Tinashe
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Tinashe Jorgenson Kachingwe is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer, actress and former model. She began her entertainment career at the age of three when she began modeling and acting, in 2012, Tinashe released two critically acclaimed mixtapes, In Case We Die and Reverie, which she created in her home studio. After the release of the mixtapes, Tinashe signed with RCA Records and she later released her third mixtape, Black Water. Her debut single,2 On, reached number one on the Rhythmic airplay chart and her debut studio album Aquarius, released in 2014, was noted by music critics as one of the most solid debuts by a new female artist in years. She has been nominated for a Soul Train Award in 2014 and was nominated for Best New Artist at the BET Awards in 2015 and she made her acting debut in the television film Cora Unashamed in 2000. In 2004, Tinashe appeared in box-office hit The Polar Express alongside actor Tom Hanks, from 2008 to 2009, Tinashe had a recurring role in the American sitcom Two and a Half Men as Celeste, Jakes girlfriend. Tinashe Kachingwe was born on February 6,1993 in Lexington, Kentucky and her parents met each other on a blind date during their time as undergrads at the University of Iowa. Tinashes name means We are with God in the Shona language and she has two younger brothers, Thulani and Kudzai. Kudzai is still enrolled in school while Thulani attends college at San Diego State University. She and her family moved to Los Angeles, California when she was eight years old and she attended Crescenta Valley High School for a year before finishing early to pursue a career in music full-time. She began studying ballet, tap, and jazz dancing at the age of 4, in 2007, Tinashe joined girl group The Stunners, founded by Vitamin C. Her bandmates were friends Marisol Esparza, Allie Gonino, Hayley Kiyoko, six months after their formation, the group signed with Columbia Records. The Stunners recorded a single that was to be used for the soundtrack, however. In 2009, the group left Columbia Records and signed a deal with Lionsgate Entertainment. On March 18,2009, they released a single, Bubblegum, on iTunes, in October, the group released a 5-song EP, influenced by artists such as Madonna, Gwen Stefani, and Rihanna. The music video for their single, We Got It, was released on February 22,2010. The group performed the song We Got It on The Today Show, after meeting with various labels, they signed a deal to Universal Republic Records in 2010. They released a single, Dancin Around the Truth on iTunes, the music video premiered on June 2,2010, just before the group was announced as an opening act on Justin Biebers My World Tour
35.
Eric Bellinger
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Eric Bellinger, Jr. is the grandson of Jackson 5 songwriter Bobby Day as well as an American singer, songwriter, record producer and engineer. Eric Bellinger grew up in Compton, CA, but went to school in the Norwalk/Santa Fe area, where he met his future manager Nieman Johnson. He grew up listening to Gospel music such as Fred Hammond, Kim Burrell, Karen Clark, as well as R&B artists such as Brandy, Blue Moon, Jagged Edge, Usher, and Michael Jackson. In high school, Eric was the captain of his football team and he turned down the offer, instead choosing to focus on music. Not long after turning down USC, Bellinger joined the R&B group AKNU and was signed to Epic Records by two successful executives, Max Gousse and Tommy Mottola. After experiencing success recording and touring with AKNU, Eric returned home to work on new music and discovered another passion, songwriting. The exceptionally gifted singer and rapper mastered his natural ability to instantly hear melody and rhythm under the guidance of childhood friend and mentor Erika Nuri of The Writing Camp. Signing a publishing deal with Sony ATV, Eric soon became famous working with major R&B and pop artists such as Chris Brown, Usher, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber and many more. Also, he has won awards for Lemme See such as ASCAP, BMI and iTunes while achieving several Grammys for his contributions to Chris Browns album, Eric later released his own mixtapes and albums. He released his Born II Sing projects online, in which Born II Sing Vol.3 hit #3 on iTunes and he has also released his 2014 album, The Rebirth and his recent release, Cuffing Season Part 2 and Eventually EP. Erics self-titled album is set to be released in 2017, Eric is married to singer and actress, LaMyia Good and they have a son. LaMyia is the sister of fellow actress, Meagan Good. Stay Away on Official website Eric Bellinger at AllMusic
36.
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
37.
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
38.
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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