1.
Can't Tell Me Nothing
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Cant Tell Me Nothing is a song by American hip-hop recording artist Kanye West. It was released on May 15,2007 as the single of his third studio album. The song was produced by Kanye West and Atlanta record producer DJ Toomp and it received acclaim from music critics and was listed amongst the best tracks of the year by several publications. Cant Tell Me Nothing was nominated for Best Rap Song at the 50th Grammy Awards, the cover art of the single was designed by the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. Though Cant Tell Me Nothing didnt impact pop radio as significantly as the subsequent singles. The song is featured as the track on Now Thats What I Call Music. It was nominated for Track of the Year at the 2007 BET Hip Hop Awards and it was also featured in the movie The Hangover. Cant Tell Me Nothing features slow, moody synth-driven production, exemplifying the new direction that would come to dominate much of Graduation. West stated that he drew inspiration from rock bands such as The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. He also explained that, with the track, he wanted to make anthemic music, the song contains audio samples of ad-libs provided by Young Jeezy as well as background vocals provided by Connie Mitchell of the Australian electronic group Sneaky Sound System. Lyrically, Cant Tell Me Nothing serves as Wests reflection on his fame, West begins the song by expounding his conflicted feelings regarding wealth and desire, describing a compulsion to spend that overwhelms any and all other objectives in life. PopMatters described Cant Tell Me Nothing as a powerful single, the Chicago Tribune chronicled Wests performance as, defiant, defensive, rueful, sarcastic and deadly passionate. The song debuted at number eighty on the Billboard Hot 100 on June 7,2007, two separate music videos accompanied Cant Tell Me Nothing, with the first aired on television and the second made available solely online. The first music video was directed by Hype Williams and released on Wests official website on May 25,2007, to visually complement the thematically distanced, alienated feel of the track, the video was filmed in a desert. It carries an aesthetic, with scenes shot in a barren, wide-open desert landscape. For a limited time, the video was available as a free download on the U. S. iTunes Store. On July 25,2007, West premiered a music video for Cant Tell Me Nothing on his website. This version was directed by Michael Blieden and featured comedian Zach Galifianakis, West had been introduced to Galifianakis work through his personal trainer, and eventually asked him to perform in his second video after attending one of Galifianakis stand-up shows in Los Angeles
2.
Mixtape
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A mixtape is a home-made compilation of music recorded in a specific order, traditionally onto a cassette tape, though later replaced by CD or MP3 playlist formats. The songs can be sequential, or by beatmatching the songs and creating overlaps, compilations may include a selection of favorite songs, or music linked by theme or mood, perhaps tailored to the tapes intended recipient. Writing in 2004, essayist Geoffrey OBrien called the mix tape perhaps the most widely practiced American art form. Homemade mix tapes became common in the 1980s, but improvements in fidelity finally allowed the cassette to become a major player. The growth of the mixtape was also encouraged by improved quality and increased popularity of audio players in car entertainment systems. These recordings tended to be of technical ability than home-made mixtapes. One 12 October 1974 article in Billboard Magazine reported, Tapes were originally dubbed by jockeys to serve as standbys for times when they did not have disco turntables to hand, the tapes represent each jockeys concept of programming, placing, and sequencing of record sides. The music is heard without interruption, one- to three-hour programs bring anywhere from $30 to $75 per tape, mostly reel-to-reel, but increasingly on cartridge and cassette. Club proprietors, as well as DJs, would often prepare such tapes for sale, throughout the 1980s, mixtapes were a highly visible element of youth culture. The high point of traditional culture was arguably the publication of Nick Hornbys novel High Fidelity in 1995. Some mix enthusiasts also appreciate the potential of the mix CD for extended, continuous mixes, MP3 players have further enhanced track accessibility, though ones without a screen defeat that purpose. Today, websites concerned with electronic music provide mixes in a digital format and these usually consist of recorded DJ sets of live, beat-matched mixes of songs, which are used by DJs seeking to demonstrate their mixing skills to an online audience. Some radio shows worldwide specialize in mix series, including The Breezeblock on BBC Radio 1, The Solid Steel Show, and Eddy Temple-Morris/The Remix on Xfm. Additionally, DJs such as Grandmaster Flash, DJ QBert, DJ Spooky, DJ Z-Trip or DJ Shadow, The Avalanches, and Rjd2 have gained fame for creating new songs by combining fragments of existing songs. This practice is derived from the use of song loops as musical backdrops for an MCs rhymes in hip hop music. Frank Creighton, a director of anti-copyright infringement efforts for the Recording Industry Association of America and this requires the mixtape creator to consider the transitions between songs, the effects caused by juxtaposing a soft song with a loud song, and the overall narrative arc of the entire tape. It also came with an actual CD featuring ten of the songs discussed in the text, many have been so widely distributed that the CDDB has logged and can identify ID3 tags when a disc mix tape is inserted into a PC. In hip hops earliest days, the music existed in live form, so performers music was spread via tapes of parties
3.
Kanye West
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Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, fashion designer, and entrepreneur. Intent on pursuing a career as a rapper, West released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004 to widespread critical and commercial success. He went on to pursue a variety of different styles on subsequent albums Late Registration, Graduation, and 808s & Heartbreak. In 2010, he released his fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy to rave reviews from critics, West released his abrasive sixth album, Yeezus, to further critical praise in 2013. His seventh album, The Life of Pablo, was released in 2016, Wests outspoken views and life outside of music have received significant mainstream attention. He has been a frequent source of controversy for his conduct at award shows, on social media and he is the founder and head of the creative content company DONDA. His 2014 marriage to television personality Kim Kardashian has also been subject to media coverage. He has won a total of 21 Grammy Awards, making him one of the most awarded artists of all time, three of his albums have been included and ranked on Rolling Stones 2012 update of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. He has also included in a number of Forbes annual lists. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005 and 2015, West was born on June 8,1977 in Atlanta, Georgia. His parents divorced when he was three years old, after the divorce, he and his mother moved to Chicago, Illinois. His father, Ray West, is a former Black Panther and was one of the first black photojournalists at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Ray West was later a Christian counselor, and in 2006, opened the Good Water Store and Café in Lexington Park, Maryland with startup capital from his son. West, was a professor of English at Clark Atlanta University, West was raised in a middle-class background, attending Polaris High School in suburban Oak Lawn, Illinois after living in Chicago. At the age of 10, West moved with his mother to Nanjing, China, according to his mother, West was the only foreigner in his class, but settled in well and quickly picked up the language, although he has since forgotten most of it. When asked about his grades in school, West replied, I got As. West demonstrated an affinity for the arts at an early age and his mother recalled that she first took notice of Wests passion for drawing and music when he was in the third grade. Growing up in Chicago, West became deeply involved in its hip hop scene and he started rapping in the third grade and began making musical compositions in the seventh grade, eventually selling them to other artists
4.
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
5.
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
6.
Lupe Fiasco
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Wasalu Muhammad Jaco, better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco, is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to fame in 2006 following the success of his debut album and he also performs as the frontman of rock band Japanese Cartoon under his real name. As an entrepreneur, Fiasco is the executive officer of 1st. Raised in Chicago, Jaco developed an interest in hip hop after initially disliking the genre for its use of vulgarity, after adopting the name Lupe Fiasco and recording songs in his fathers basement, 19-year-old Fiasco joined a group called Da Pak. The group disbanded shortly after its inception, and Fiasco soon met rapper Jay-Z who helped him sign a deal with Atlantic Records. In September 2006, Fiasco released his debut album Lupe Fiascos Food & Liquor on the label and he released his second album, Lupe Fiascos The Cool, in December 2007. The lead single Superstar became his first top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, after a two-year delay, Lasers was released in March 2011 to mixed reviews, however, it became his first album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200. His latest album, Tetsuo & Youth, was released in January 2015, in addition to music, Fiasco has pursued other business ventures, including fashion. He runs two clothing lines, Righteous Kung-Fu and Trilly & Truly, he has designed sneakers for Reebok and he has been involved with charitable activities, including the Summit on the Summit expedition, and in 2010 he recorded a benefit single for victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Fiasco is also noted for his anti-establishment views, which he has expressed in interviews and his music. Fiasco was born Wasalu Muhammad Jaco on February 16,1982 in Chicago, Fiasco is of West African descent, one of nine children of Shirley, a gourmet chef, and Gregory, an engineer. His father, a member of the Black Panther Party, was a prolific African drummer, karate teacher, operating plant engineer, Fiasco was raised Muslim on the West Side of Chicago on Madison Terrace housing project. At the age of three, Fiasco began taking martial arts classes and his parents divorced when he was five, and he went on to live with his mother, but his father still remained an important part of his life. In sixth grade, he went to live with his father full-time in Harvey and his father lived next door to a crack house and taught Fiasco to use guns to defend himself from drug dealers. As a teenager, Fiasco participated in Academic Decathlon competitions and his mother described him by saying, He was a great spirited child. Smart, a bit complex, he kind of was a loner, always had a book bag over his shoulder and some type of a writing tablet. Fiasco initially disliked hip hop music for its use of vulgarity and his struggle to learn to play an instrument led him to create poetry instead, which led to his interest in the lyrical aspects of music. He began rapping his poems in the grade, and upon hearing Nas 1996 album, It Was Written
7.
A-Trak
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Alain Macklovitch, known by his stage name A-Trak, is a Canadian DJ, turntablist, record producer, and music label executive. He is the owner of the record label Fools Gold, which was founded in 2007, and is credited for developing the careers of such as Kid Cudi, Danny Brown. A-Traks career has spanned two decades, leading Rolling Stone to name him one of the 50 Most Important People in EDM. A-Trak is also part of the DJ duo Duck Sauce with Armand Van Helden, A-Trak was featured on the covers of Billboard and Complex and recently appeared in campaigns for Adidas, Grey Goose, Converse and Cadillac. A-Trak has also penned a number of articles for the The Huffington Post, after residing in Brooklyn for many years, he now calls Los Angeles home. Macklovitch was born to Jewish parents in Montréal, Quebec, and is of Moroccan and Russian descent and his older brother, David Macklovitch, is one-half of the electro-funk duo Chromeo. A-Trak was the first DJ to win all three major DJ competition titles, as well as being the first DJ to win five World Championships. He won the DMC World DJ Championship in 1997 at the age of 15 and he was an honorary member of the now defunct DJ crew Invisibl Skratch Piklz, and a member of The Allies alongside frequent collaborator DJ Craze. In the late 90s A-Trak developed a system for scratching. He gave a lecture about it at the Skratchcon 2000 conference and he has also appeared on the cover of multiple magazines including Billboard, URB, BPM and Status. A-Trak and his brother Dave ran the record label Audio Research from 1997–2007, after moving to Williamsburg, he founded the label Fools Gold Records with Nick Catchdubs in 2007. A-Trak had been booked to play a show, in 2004 at a record shop in London. Kanye West came to support John Legend who was playing in the same show. A-Trak also recorded scratches on Kanye West’s second and third studio albums Late Registration and Graduation and was an influence on the sound of the latter. Over the years he has endorsed brands including Serato Scratch Live. However, some of his production displays a separation of his electronic and hip hop identities, with such as Piss Test featuring Juicy J. Another hip hop production, Ray Ban Vision, was used in the 2012 movie Project X, in 2009, A-Trak collaborated with Armand Van Helden to form a disco house production duo under the name Duck Sauce. They released the song aNYway in October on Ministry of Sound, Duck Sauce has achieved success worldwide including reaching the top chart position in twelve countries and attaining the #1 spot on the US Dance Billboard charts
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