1.
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
2.
Late Registration
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Late Registration is the 2005 second studio album by American hip hop producer and rapper Kanye West. It was recorded over the course of a year in sessions held across studios in New York City and Hollywood, the album features guest contributions from Adam Levine, Lupe Fiasco, Jamie Foxx, Common, Jay-Z, Brandy, and Nas, among others. Its production was notably more lush and elaborate than Wests 2004 debut album The College Dropout, as he utilized intricate sampling methods, Wests lyrics explore both personal and political themes, including poverty, drug trafficking, racism, healthcare, and the blood diamond trade. Late Registration was released by Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings on August 30,2005 and it earned West the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Rap Album and an Album of the Year nomination, while appearing at the top of several publications year-end lists ranking the years top albums. Rolling Stone named it the best album of 2005, and later included it at number 118 on its 2012 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Late Registration debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 860,000 copies in its first week. The album has thus far sold over 3.1 million copies in the United States and has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. It produced five singles, including the international hits Touch the Sky, Heard Em Say and Gold Digger, Music videos for all five singles were produced, and West also supported the album with a promotional concert tour, and the live album Late Orchestration. Late Registration is the second of Kanye Wests planned four education-themed studio albums, following the major success of The College Dropout, the album reveals his progression in writing lyrics and an incorporation of a wider range of musical styles. At the time, the point of Wests production style was the use of sped-up vocal samples from soul records. A longtime fan of the English trip hop group Portishead, West had been influenced by Roseland NYC Live. Early in his career, the album had inspired him to incorporate string arrangements into his hip hop production. Though West had not been able to afford many live instruments around the time of his debut album, West juxtaposed the lush, intricate melodies of the string section with the hard, pounding drum rhythms of hip-hop, and used the sound for the foundation of his rapping. West collaborated with American film score composer Jon Brion, who served as the albums co-executive producer for several tracks, West had been exposed to Brions work while watching the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, for which Brion had composed music. Hes got this sense of pop record-making which is really solid and he was already barking up that tree. This is definitely not just a hip-hop album, but it is also by no means overtly arty, or non-hip-hop. I dont think its a record by any means. West took over a year and invested two million dollars towards the construction of Late Registration and he began working in the studio after he finished touring with Usher on the R&B singers The Truth Tour. By November 2004, West had completed nearly seventy-five percent of the album, however he felt unsatisfied with its outcome and in March of the following year, he brought in Jon Brion, which drastically altered the projects direction
3.
The Record Plant
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The Record Plant was a series of three famous recording studios which were founded by Gary Kellgren and Chris Stone, beginning in New York City in 1968. The next year, Kellgren and Stone opened a studio in Los Angeles. In 1972, the company expanded again with a location in Sausalito. Kellgren died in 1977, and in the 1980s, the New York and Sausalito studios ended up under different ownership, the New York studio closed in 1987 and the Sausalito studio closed in 2008. The Los Angeles studio continues in business as the Record Plant, the Record Plant in New York was the first studio to give the recording artist a comfortable, casual environment rather than the clinical setting that was the norm through the 1960s. Kellgren and Stone brought this same vision to their Los Angeles, Stone later said of Kellgren, He single-handedly was responsible for changing studios from what they were—fluorescent lights, white walls and hardwood floors—to the living rooms that they are today. In late 1967, Chris Stone was introduced to Kellgren because Kellgrens wife Marta was seven months pregnant, scared of the upcoming birth, mutual friends thought that the two couples could talk about being parents and ease Martas worry. Though they were opposed in nature, with Stone all business and Kellgren very creative. Seeing him at work, Stone determined that Kellgren was not making use of his genius for making recordings. Stone noticed that the studio was charging its clients $5,000 per week. Stone suggested Kellgren ask for a raise, and soon he was making $1,000 per week, Stone held an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and was at that time employed as the national sales representative of Revlon cosmetics. Stone convinced Kellgren that the two of them, with $100,000 borrowed from Johanna C. C, ancky Revson Johnson, could start a new recording studio, one with a better atmosphere for creativity. Johnson was a model who became the second wife of Revlon founder Charles Revson, then divorced and married Ben Johnson. In early 1968 Kellgren and Stone began building a 12-track studio at 321 West 44th Street and it opened on March 13,1968. When The Jimi Hendrix Experience arrived at the studio, Kellgren engineered the first few dates until Eddie Kramer, in 1969, Kellgren and Stone sold the New York operation to TeleVision Communications, a cable television company that was broadening its portfolio. The purpose of the sale was to gain cash for expansion into Los Angeles with a second studio, the next big mixing assignment that the studio accepted was to mix the tracks recorded at the Woodstock Festival. These took more than a month to sort out in the studio, as recording conditions had been primitive, in 1970, Studio A became the first recording studio designed for mixing quadraphonic sound. On August 1,1971, the studio made its first remote recordings at The Concert for Bangladesh, in January 1972, Warner Communications bought the facility from TVC
4.
Hollywood
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Hollywood is an ethnically diverse, densely populated neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. It is notable as the home of the U. S. film industry, including several of its studios, and its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the industry. Hollywood was a community in 1870 and was incorporated as a municipality in 1903. It was consolidated with the city of Los Angeles in 1910, in 1853, one adobe hut stood in Nopalera, named for the Mexican Nopal cactus indigenous to the area. By 1870, an agricultural community flourished, the area was known as the Cahuenga Valley, after the pass in the Santa Monica Mountains immediately to the north. According to the diary of H. J. Whitley, known as the Father of Hollywood, along came a Chinese man in a wagon carrying wood. The man got out of the wagon and bowed, the Chinese man was asked what he was doing and replied, I holly-wood, meaning hauling wood. H. J. Whitley had an epiphany and decided to name his new town Hollywood, Holly would represent England and wood would represent his Scottish heritage. Whitley had already started over 100 towns across the western United States, Whitley arranged to buy the 500-acre E. C. Hurd ranch and disclosed to him his plans for the land. They agreed on a price and Hurd agreed to sell at a later date, before Whitley got off the ground with Hollywood, plans for the new town had spread to General Harrison Gray Otis, Hurds wife, eastern adjacent ranch co-owner Daeida Wilcox, and others. Daeida Wilcox may have learned of the name Hollywood from Ivar Weid, her neighbor in Holly Canyon and she recommended the same name to her husband, Harvey. In August 1887, Wilcox filed with the Los Angeles County Recorders office a deed and parcel map of property he had sold named Hollywood, Wilcox wanted to be the first to record it on a deed. The early real-estate boom busted that year, yet Hollywood began its slow growth. By 1900, the region had a post office, newspaper, hotel, Los Angeles, with a population of 102,479 lay 10 miles east through the vineyards, barley fields, and citrus groves. A single-track streetcar line ran down the middle of Prospect Avenue from it, but service was infrequent, the old citrus fruit-packing house was converted into a livery stable, improving transportation for the inhabitants of Hollywood. The Hollywood Hotel was opened in 1902 by H. J. Whitley who was a president of the Los Pacific Boulevard, having finally acquired the Hurd ranch and subdivided it, Whitley built the hotel to attract land buyers. Flanking the west side of Highland Avenue, the structure fronted on Prospect Avenue, the hotel was to become internationally known and was the center of the civic and social life and home of the stars for many years. Whitleys company developed and sold one of the residential areas
5.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
6.
Sony Music Studios
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Sony Music Studios was a well-known former music recording and mastering facility in New York City. The five story red brick building was a music and broadcasting complex that was located at 460 W. 54th Street, at 10th Avenue and it opened in 1993, and closed in August 2007. In addition to being the facility for new popular, classical and other albums, it was also used as space for soundtrack recording and mixing, post-production. Sony Music Studios also had facilities for live and taped television broadcasts, prior to its acquisition by Sony in 1993, the industrial red-brick barn, was owned by Camera Mart for 20 years, and leased the space to movie and television producers. William Fox, President of the Fox Film Corporation, had worked with inventor Theodore W. Case to develop a method for capturing sound on film eventually becoming the Movietone sound system. On April 30,1927, the first talking Fox Movietone subject debuted in New York, by the end of 1928, Movietone was churning out four talking newsreels a week, and a string of film shorts soon thereafter. The March of Time documentary film series began in rented space on the floor from 1934-1936. Fox Movietone newsreels ceased production in 1963, but by then the studio had become popular for film and commercial production. Among the features made there, Miracle on 34th Street, On The Waterfront, Middle of the Night, Fail Safe, The Pawnbroker, The Group, The Owl and The Pussycat, Wheres Poppa. Fox leased out the complex to various independent film and television such as. Productions with such TV series as Inner Sanctum, The Reporter, the famous I Love New York ad was filmed there in 1978. Printed records are murky on precisely when Twentieth Century Fox divested itself of the property, in 1968, Manhattan Sound Studios ran a short-lived “Manhattan ‘54” operation there. After this it appears to have been bought by Camera Mart, for one brief year,1979, Stage One became a major dance and ballet performance space. Camera Mart owned the property until selling to Sony in 1993, other programs recorded or aired live from the Sony Music Studios included MTV Unplugged, Sessions at West 54th, Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn and VH1’s Hard Rock Live. Sony Music was also home to the current version of the word game Chain Reaction, millionaire and Chain Reaction, both packaged by Michael Davies, are the only two daily national quiz shows currently produced in New York. Sony Music Studios also hosted America, A Tribute to Heroes, a telethon held 10 days after the September 11,2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. The special also featured segments from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, neither location was disclosed before air time because of security concerns. On June 7,2007, after an attempt by Sony Music Executive Vice President/Studio Head Andy Kadison stalled
7.
New York, New York
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
8.
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
9.
Roc-A-Fella Records
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Roc-A-Fella Records was an American record label founded by American recording artist Jay-Z, Damon Dash and Kareem Biggs Burke. It operated as a division of The Island Def Jam Music Group, the foundation of the label occurred in 1996, beginning as an independent outlet for rapper Jay-Zs first album. M. O. P. and DJ Clue, as well as producer Irv Gotti, hard Knock Life, saw him largely depart from his previous entourage and venture forth with producers Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, The 45 King and Jermaine Dupri. Though Da Ranjahz put in appearances on Memphis Bleeks first album, Coming of Age, in 1999, they soon parted ways with Roc-A-Fella Records. Jay-Zs 1999 album Vol.3. Life and Times of S. Carter continued Jays new affiliations with then-popular producers, in 2000, Jay-Z put out The Dynasty, Roc La Familia as a solo album. Rather than return to Timbaland or Swizz Beatz for production, Jay selected beats from a new crop of producers, Jonathan Chandler, Kanye West, Bink, The Neptunes, each beatsmith would go on to become consistently involved in future Roc-A-Fella Records projects. The new millennium saw Roc-A-Fella Records begin to expand one figurehead artist, Beanie Sigels The Truth had reached #5 on the Billboard charts in 2000, and DJ Clue released The Professional 2 in 2000. During this time, Jay-Z and Beanie Sigel were embroiled in a feud with Ruff Ryders Entertainment artists Jadakiss, Camron put out his Roc-A-Fella Records debut Come Home with Me in 2002 to platinum sales, and shortly signed his group The Diplomats to Roc-A-Fella Records, as well. From 2002 to 2003, Dame Dash signed several artists in response to Jay-Zs talk of retirement after his 2002 album The Blueprint2, The Gift & The Curse. He signed M. O. P. and Ol Dirty Bastard, gave Grafh a joint-venture deal, Dash, poised to take greater control in the company, began heavily promoting artists Camron, The Diplomats, State Property, Kanye West and Twista. In 2004, Kanye Wests album, The College Dropout, became a commercial and critical success, selling multi-platinum. The infamous split occurred when it was revealed that Carter, Dash and Burke had sold their 50% interest in Roc-A-Fella Records to The Island Def Jam Music Group, as President, Carter retained control of the Roc and his masters, ousting his two former partners. M. O. P. and Grafh also left Roc-A-Fella Records for Dame Dash Music Group, though both acts parted ways with Dash soon thereafter. Due to the 2004 death of Ol Dirty Bastard, Dash also brought with him masters of the project and promises to release the album, A Son Unique. It was stated by Memphis Bleek that Cory Gunz had signed, by the end of the year, Dash had split his label from Def Jam Recordings and Jay-Zs role overseeing his project, after asking for more money and a bigger role in the company. Dame Dash Music Group left Def Jam Recordings and was subsequently dissolved, in 2006, releases were largely limited to those of Roc-La-Familia, a Latino-geared label under Roc-A-Fella Records that followed the trend of Reggaeton. Both put out albums, and the label was home to New York rapper Tru Life, Jay-Z made his return that year with Kingdom Come, to mixed reviews. Freeways project received critical acclaim but not major sales, and contained comments aimed at Kanye West and Just Blaze for not supplying production and he later amended his comments, stating he desired to work with Just Blaze but the producer hasnt reached out
10.
Def Jam Recordings
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Def Jam Recordings is an American record label, focused predominantly on hip hop and urban music, owned by Universal Music Group. In the UK, the takes on the name Def Jam UK and is operated through Virgin EMI, while in Japan. The label distributes various record labels, including Kanye Wests GOOD Music, Ludacris Disturbing Tha Peace, Def Jam was founded by Rick Rubin in his dormitory in Weinstein Hall at New York University and its first release was a single by his punk-rock group Hose. Russell Simmons joined Rubin shortly after they were introduced to other, according to one story. Another cites DJ Jazzy Jay as their connector, Rubin has said he met Simmons on the TV show, Graffiti Rock and recognized him then as the face of hip hop, He was five years older than me, and he was already established in the music business. And I had no experience whatsoever, the first single released with the Def Jam Recordings logo was T La Rock & Jazzy Jays Its Yours. The first releases with Def Jam Recordings catalog numbers were LL Cool Js I Need a Beat, the singles sold well, eventually leading to a distribution deal with CBS Records through Columbia Records the following year. A few years later, Russell Simmons and Lyor Cohen started a label called Rush Associated Labels to handle Def Jam. RAL became the home to Nice & Smooth and EPMD after both acts were acquired due to the folding of their former label Sleeping Bag Records, other acts under the RAL umbrella included Redman, Onyx, Flatlinerz, Domino, Warren G and Jayo Felony. As the decade drew to a close, the label signed Public Enemy, Lyor Cohen became president of Def Jam/RAL in 1988, after winning a power struggle with Rubin, who would shortly thereafter leave the company to form Def American Recordings. Rubin would take Slayer with him to Def American in its initial stages, by 1992, despite recent multi-platinum selling releases from Public Enemy, and EPMD, Def Jam ran into severe financial troubles and was faced with folding. However, in 1994, PolyGram purchased Sonys 50% stake in Def Jam Recordings — subsequently bringing the label into its fold, following PolyGrams purchase, Def Jam distributed the Violator Records-signed artist Warren Gs Regulate. G Funk Era album, which went triple platinum and brought much-needed revenue to Def Jam through its distribution deal with Violator, PolyGram acquired an additional 10% in Def Jam Recordings in 1996, further strengthening its ownership of Def Jam. Shortly thereafter, Rush Associated Labels was renamed Def Jam Music Group, the label remained profitable as its veteran star LL Cool J released his successful album Mr. Smith in 1995. The label later signed Foxy Brown, whose debut album Ill Na Na became a seller in 1997. In 1998, PolyGram was purchased by Seagram and merged with the MCA family of labels and it then purchased the remaining interest of Def Jam Recordings from Russell Simmons for a reported $100 million. UMG merged 14+ record labels including, Def Jam, Island Records, despite the formation of IDJMG, the Def Jam, Mercury, and Island labels continued to operate as separate imprints underneath the bigger umbrella. Lyor Cohen was appointed co-president of IDJMG, and Kevin Liles succeeded him as president of Def Jam, Def Soul also issued recordings by Musiq, Montell Jordan, Case,112, Patti LaBelle, and Christina Milian
11.
Songwriter
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A songwriter is an individual who writes the lyrics, melodies and chord progressions for songs, typically for a popular music genre such as rock or country music. A songwriter can also be called a composer, although the term tends to be used mainly for individuals from the classical music genre. The pressure from the industry to produce popular hits means that songwriting is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed between a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with a gift for creating original melodies, pop songs may be written by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own publishers, while others have outside publishers. The old-style apprenticeship approach to learning how to write songs is being supplemented by university degrees and college diplomas, a knowledge of modern music technology, songwriting elements and business skills are necessary requirements to make a songwriting career in the 2010s. Several music colleges offer songwriting diplomas and degrees with music business modules, the legal power to grant these permissions may be bought, sold or transferred. This is governed by international copyright law, song pitching can be done on a songwriters behalf by their publisher or independently using tip sheets like RowFax, the MusicRow publication and SongQuarters. Skills associated with song-writing include entrepreneurism and creativity, songwriters who sign an exclusive songwriting agreement with a publisher are called staff writers. In the Nashville country music scene, there is a staff writer culture where contracted writers work normal 9-to-5 hours at the publishing office and are paid a regular salary. This salary is in effect the writers draw, an advance on future earnings, the publisher owns the copyright of songs written during the term of the agreement for a designated period, after which the songwriter can reclaim the copyright. In an interview with HitQuarters, songwriter Dave Berg extolled the benefits of the set-up, unlike contracted writers, some staff writers operate as employees for their respective publishers. Under the terms of work for hire agreements, the compositions created are fully owned by the publisher. In Nashville, young writers are often encouraged to avoid these types of contracts. Staff writers are common across the industry, but without the more office-like working arrangements favored in Nashville. All the major publishers employ writers under contract, songwriter Allan Eshuijs described his staff writer contract at Universal Music Publishing as a starter deal. His success under the arrangement eventually allowed him to found his own publishing company, so that he could. keep as much as possible, songwriters are also often skilled musicians. In addition to selling their songs and musical concepts for other artists to sing, songwriters need to create a number of elements for a song
12.
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
13.
Jon Brion
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Jon Brion is an American rock and pop multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, composer and record producer. Brion also works as a solo artist and released his solo album, Meaningless. Brion was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey and he came from a musical family, his mother, LaRue, was an administrative assistant and singer, and his father, Keith Brion, was a band director at Yale. His brother and sister became a composer/arranger and a violinist, respectively, Brion had difficulties at Hamden High School and at the age of 17 left education, opting instead to play music professionally. From 1980–85 Jon was part of the band The Excerpts, along with Stephen Harris, Dean Falcone, Jim Balga, in the early 1980s, Brion and musician/producer Bill Murphy began a writing collaboration in New Haven, Connecticut. They eventually enlisted bassist Don Riff Fertman and together formed The Bats, the Bats released a single, Popgun and one album How Pop Can You Get. on Gustav records in 1982. The recordings had much critical acclaim, but little success. In 1987, Brion moved to Boston, where he played solo gigs, formed the short-lived band Worlds Fair and became a member of the last touring version of Aimee Manns new wave band Til Tuesday. He contributed guitar work to Jellyfishs 1993 album Spilt Milk, and in 1994, joined Dan McCarroll, Buddy Judge and he also played guitar on The Wallflowers hit song One Headlight. Brion played numerous instruments on Sam Phillips 1996 release Omnipop, Brion is featured as keyboardist and drummer on Marianne Faithfulls 2003 album, Kissin Time, and co-wrote a song, City of Quartz, for her next work, 2005s Before the Poison. After being recognized as a session player, Brion branched out into production on then-girlfriend Manns 1993 solo debut, Whatever. He has also produced albums by Fiona Apple, Rufus Wainwright, Eleni Mandell, Rhett Miller, Robyn Hitchcock, Brad Mehldau and Evan Dando, and co-produced Kanye Wests Late Registration in 2005. In the fall of 2002, Brion began producing the album Extraordinary Machine with Fiona Apple, Brions versions leaked onto the Internet, where the album gained a cult following long before its official release. Brion worked and performed on some of the tracks for Sean Lennons 2006 album Friendly Fire, lennon said that working with him was how I would imagine its like to work with Prince. Its like having a weird alien prodigy in your room, more recently, Brion has produced recordings by British pop performer Dido, Spoon, and Keane, as well as 2010s False Priest by Of Montreal. Brion also produced Best Coasts second album which was released in early 2012, Brion was signed to the Lava/Atlantic label in 1997, but was released from his contract after turning in his solo debut album Meaningless, the album was released independently in 2001. He is rumored to be working on his second solo album at Abbey Road Studios. Brion is a film composer, having started scoring by frequently working with director Paul Thomas Anderson
14.
Ballad (music)
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A ballad /ˈbæləd/ is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French chanson balladée or ballade, which were originally danced songs, Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of the British Isles from the later medieval period until the 19th century. They were widely used across Europe, and later in the Americas, Australia, Ballads are 13 lines with an ABABBCBC form, consisting of couplets of rhymed verse, each of 14 syllables. Many ballads were written and sold as single sheet broadsides, the form was often used by poets and composers from the 18th century onwards to produce lyrical ballads. In the later 19th century, the took on the meaning of a slow form of popular love song and is now often used for any love song. The ballad derives its name from medieval French dance songs or ballares, from which ballet is also derived, as a narrative song, their theme and function may originate from Scandinavian and Germanic traditions of storytelling that can be seen in poems such as Beowulf. Musically they were influenced by the Minnesinger, the earliest example of a recognizable ballad in form in England is Judas in a 13th-century manuscript. This means that the two words, ballad and ballet, are derived from the French language. Ballads were originally written to accompany dances, and so were composed in couplets with refrains in alternate lines and these refrains would have been sung by the dancers in time with the dance. Most northern and west European ballads are written in ballad stanzas or quatrains of alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, known as ballad meter. Usually, only the second and fourth line of a quatrain are rhymed, there is considerable variation on this pattern in almost every respect, including length, number of lines and rhyming scheme, making the strict definition of a ballad extremely difficult. Ballads usually use the dialect of the people and are heavily influenced by the region in which they originate. Scottish ballads in particular are distinctively un-English, even showing some pre-Christian influences in the inclusion of elements such as the fairies in the Scottish ballad Tam Lin. The ballads do not have any known author or correct version, instead, having passed down mainly by oral tradition since the Middle Ages. The ballads remained a tradition until the increased interest in folk songs in the 18th century led collectors such as Bishop Thomas Percy to publish volumes of popular ballads. In all traditions most ballads are narrative in nature, with a story, often concise, and rely on imagery, rather than description. Themes concerning rural laborers and their sexuality are common, and there are many ballads based on the Robin Hood legend. Another common feature of ballads is repetition, sometimes of fourth lines in succeeding stanzas, as a refrain, sometimes of third and fourth lines of a stanza and sometimes of entire stanzas
15.
Donda 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
16.
Glow in the Dark Tour
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The Glow in the Dark Tour is a critically acclaimed world concert tour by Kanye West featuring Rihanna, Lupe Fiasco, N. E. R. D, Santigold and Nas. It began on April 16,2008 in Seattle, Washington and travelled to Latin America, Asia, Europe, New Zealand, the tour featured some surprise special guest artists, including Gnarls Barkley and Jay-Z. Chris Brown also appeared at shows to perform his remix of Umbrella with Rihanna. For the New Zealand and Australian leg of the special guests Nas and New Zealand rapper Scribe replaced Lupe Fiasco and N. E. R. D. Vanness Wu performed as the act on the Asian leg of the tour. A same titled book authored by Kanye West with photography by Nabil Elderkin was published by Rizzoli USA in October 2009, the tour grossed $30.8 million from 49 shows. A brief controversy emerged when during his performance in Sacramento, West accidentally referred to the city as Seattle, West quickly admitted his mistake and made an apology to fans on his official blog. Wests scheduled time at the Bonnaroo Music Festival was changed from 8,00 pm to 2,45 am to accommodate the show for the Glow in the Dark Tour. This marked the first ever night show on the big What Stage in Bonnaroos 7-year history. Pearl Jam ended up playing 50 mins over their allotted time, a message on the monitors stated that the show would start at 3,30. When that didnt happen, the crowd grew restless and started chanting Kanye Sucks, once West came out on stage at 4,25 am most people quieted down. The delay was due to complications in the set up of Wests elaborate glow in the dark concept concert after the Pearl Jam set. Graffiti was found throughout the festival ranging from Fuck Kanye to Jay-Z Would Have Been on Time, West later wrote an outraged post on his blog, expressing his anger at the crowds response and at Superflys mismanagement. Glow in the Dark LA Times review Entertainment Weekly review New York Times review Perez Hilton review The Observer review
17.
Le Zenith
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Le Zénith is the name given to a series of indoor arenas in France. The first arena, the Zénith Paris is a rejuvenation of the Pavillon de Paris, since its opening in 1984, the Zénith became a registered trademark in France. In French culture, the word zénith has become synonymous with theatre, a zénith is a theater that can accommodate a concert tours, variety shows, plays, musicals and dance recitals. All zeniths carry an internal design of an indoor amphitheatre that can seat at least 3,000 spectators. A venue was planned to open in Saint-Denis, Réunion entitled Zénith du Port, the arena was proposed in 2005 by the city council. Planned to open in 2008 with a capacity of 6,000 and it was determined the venue would not be profitable as there was no research done to see which events the arena could house. They also felt the venue would be a hard sell to bring in international talent, kabardock was built on the proposed site of the zenith. The arena was built in 1983 at the site of the music hall, Pavillon de Paris, by architects Phillippe Chaix. The construction of the arena was initiated by Minister of Culture, Jack Lang, to maintain the rock, the first musician to perform at the venue was French singer-songwriter Renaud Séchan. Over the years, the venue has played host to many French artists including Jenifer, Jean-Jacques Goldman, Vanessa Paradis, Mr. Hankey, Johnny Hallyday and Michel Sardou. Live albums by Simple Minds, The Cure, Muse, Evanescence, Morrissey, Les Cowboys Fringants, The Hives, Archive, on 5 and 8 March 2013 Björk performed. The Cures 1993 live album Paris was recorded here, the arena has hosted the MTV Europe Music Awards in 1995, World Wrestling Entertainment in 2007 and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2010. It is the first incarnation of the Le Zénith franchise, address,2733 Avenue Albert Einstein 34000 Montpellier, France Built, 1985—1986 Opened,1986 Capacity,6,300 Website, Zénith Sud Website Le Zénith Sud is an indoor arena in Montpellier. The venue was designed by architects Phillippe Chaix and Jean-Paul Morel, the building opened in 1986 and was renovated in 2001 and 2006. It was the arena in Montpellier until the Arena Montpellier opened in 2010. Over the course of 25 years, the arena has hosted concerts by Ben Harper, Muse, -M-, Yannick Noah and it is the second incarnation of the Le Zénith franchise. The arena opened September 7,1992, the venue also has a nightclub called Omega Live. The space is used for events and after parties
18.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
19.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
20.
50th Grammy Awards
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The 50th Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 10,2008. It honored musical achievement of 2007 in which albums were released between October 1,2006 through September 30,2007, two nights prior to the show Aretha Franklin was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year. The years big winner was Amy Winehouse, the 24-year-old singer had entered a drug rehabilitation program. American officials initially refused her a visa, they reversed the decision. She became the female solo artist to get five awards in one night, alongside Lauryn Hill, Norah Jones, Alicia Keys. The golden anniversary of the Grammys and NARAS was noted in references and performances throughout this years ceremony, Alicia Keys was the evenings opening musician, singing and playing piano alongside archived video and audio of Frank Sinatra. Special recognition of the contributions of The Beatles also featured. The Foo Fighters won Best Rock Album, and performed their nominated song The Pretender in a collaborative performance that involved a social media selection of classical musicians. The following is an alphabetical list of performers, the following is an alphabetical list of presenters. Bold type indicates the winner out of the list of nominees, – Akwid El Abayarde Contraataca – Tego Calderón Residente O Visitante – Calle 13 El Cartel, The Big Boss – Daddy Yankee Vacaneria. /. Blige When I See U – Fantasia No One – Alicia Keys If I Have My Way– Chrisette Michele Hate on Me– Jill Scott Best Male R&B Vocal Performance Woman – Raheem DeVaughn B. U. D. D. Y. Hermansen & Shaffer Smith No One songwriters, Dirty Harry, Kerry Brothers & Alicia Keys Teachme songwriters, Ivan Barias, Adam W. Blackstone, top 10 Grammy Performances NARAS CBS GRAMMY Site
21.
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
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It was co-founded by Paul Tollett and Rick Van Santen in 1999, and is organized by Goldenvoice, a subsidiary of AEG Live as of 2001. The event features many genres of music, including rock, indie, hip hop, across the grounds, several stages continuously host live music. The main stages are the, Coachella Stage, Gobi Tent, Mojave Tent, Outdoor Theatre, and Sahara Tent, the festivals origins trace back to a 1993 concert that Pearl Jam performed at the Empire Polo Club while boycotting venues controlled by Ticketmaster. After no event was held in 2000, Coachella returned on an annual basis beginning in April 2001, in 2002, the festival reverted to a two-day format. Coachella was expanded to a day in 2007 and eventually a second weekend in 2012, it is currently held on consecutive three-day weekends in April. Organizers began permitting spectators to camp on the grounds in 2003, Coachella showcases popular and established musical artists, as well as emerging artists and reunited groups. Coachella is one of the largest, most famous, and most profitable music festivals in the United States, the 2016 festival sold 198,000 tickets and grossed $94.2 million. On November 5,1993, Pearl Jam performed for almost 25,000 fans at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, the site was selected because the band refused to play in Los Angeles as a result of a dispute with Ticketmaster. Around 1997, Goldenvoice was struggling to book concerts against larger companies, Tollett said, We were getting our ass kicked financially. We were losing a lot of bands, and we couldnt compete with the money. As a result, the idea of a festival was conceived. While attending the 1997 Glastonbury Festival, Tollett began to brainstorm ideas for a festival of his own with multiple venues. His intent was to book artists who were not necessarily chart successes, Maybe if you put a bunch of them together. Press coverage leading up to the inaugural Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was dominated by Woodstock 1999, a festival in July 1999 that was marred by looting, arson, violence, and rapes. Goldenvoices insurance costs increased 40% as a result and they faced uncertainty regarding Coachellas tickets, organizers were already aiming to provide a high-comfort festival experience for Coachella but rededicated themselves to those efforts after Woodstock 1999. Advertisements boasted free water fountains, ample restrooms, and misting tents, on October 9–10,1999, the inaugural Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was held. Headlining the event were Beck, the Chemical Brothers, Tool, Morrissey, originally, promoters had hoped to make the event three days and even considered the UK band Massive Attack as the third-day headliner. The organizers strived to recreate European music festivals with small crowds in a setting with plenty of turntables
22.
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
23.
North America
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North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16. 5% of the land area. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7. 5% of the worlds population, North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago, the Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era ended with the migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south. Because of the history of colonialism, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, the Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a map, in which he placed the word America on the continent of South America. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio, for Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespuccis name, but in its feminine form America, following the examples of Europa, Asia and Africa. Later, other mapmakers extended the name America to the continent, In 1538. Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty, a minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of Amairick. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language, the term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with location and context. In Canadian English, North America may be used to refer to the United States, alternatively, usage sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands
24.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
25.
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
26.
Chicago
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Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, novels, film, theater, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago also has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language. The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad, manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage
27.
Dilated Peoples
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Dilated Peoples is an American hip hop group from Los Angeles, California. They reached the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart with two tracks, This Way and Worst Comes to Worst and their members include DJ Babu, Evidence and Rakaa. The group also received a publicity spike after their songs were featured in the 2003 video games Need for Speed, Underground and they had previously recorded an album titled Imagery, Battle Hymns & Political Poetry that was never released, although many fans still have it on bootlegged tapes. The group eventually signed with Capitol Records and released The Platform to more critical acclaim, Expansion Team debuted at #8 on the US Billboard R&B Albums chart and #36 on the Billboard 200. The groups third album, Neighborhood Watch, was released in 2004 and debuted at #55 on the Billboard 200, in addition to the Kanye West produced single, This Way, it featured the singles Whos Who. and Sorry. OK, which were included as tracks on the Need for Speed, Underground and SSX3 soundtracks. The fourth album, 20/20, was released in 2006, the debut single and this is the third EA Games soundtrack on which the group has been featured. Back Again is also featured on Sonys MLB06, The Show, in 2012, they collaborated with Platinum Games to record the track This is Madness for the credits of the beat-em-up video game, Anarchy Reigns. 20/20 was the farewell album on Capitol Records, ending a four album recording contract. They also work with the hip hop group, Global Warning. The Liks appeared on The Platform on the track Right On, the group also collaborated frequently with west coast emcees Defari and Amad Jamal and helped to launch their careers. Defari made one appearance on each Dilated Peoples album, Ear Drums Pop on The Platform, Defari Interlude on Expansion Team, Closed Session on Neighborhood Watch, Dilated Peoples also made multiple appearances on Defaris album Odds & Evens. Another Dilated associate is their long-time producer, the Alchemist, who produced five songs on The Platform, Dilated Peoples were featured on a song on the Alchemists 1st Infantry album. Dilated Peoples at AllMusic Dilated Peoples Homepage Evidence Interview Evidence Interview - Reunion of Dilated Peoples, BouriBlog | Evidence Interview BouriBlog | Rakaa Iriscience Interview Dilated Peoples Video Interview
28.
House of Blues
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House of Blues is a chain of live music concert halls and restaurants in major markets throughout the United States. House of Blues first location, in Cambridges Harvard Square, was opened in 1992 by Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, the first House of Blues opened on November 26,1992, in the Harvard Square commercial district and retail area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was financed by Dan Aykroyd, Aerosmith, Paul Shaffer, River Phoenix, James Belushi. This original location has since closed, however, the hands-in-concrete driveway where members of the Blues Brothers and others left their mark, still remains. In 1999, House of Blues acquired Universal Concerts from Seagram, on July 5,2006, Live Nation acquired House of Blues. As a division of Live Nation, the company currently operates 11 clubs throughout North America, the iconic Sunset Strip location in West Hollywood, CA closed in July 2015, a new location has not been found. Nine of these locations also feature the VIP membership club, Foundation Room
29.
Journey (band)
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Journey is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1973, composed of former members of Santana and Frumious Bandersnatch. The band has gone through phases, its strongest commercial success occurred between 1978 and 1987. During that period, the released a series of hit songs, including Dont Stop Believin. Its parent studio album, Escape, the eighth and most successful, reached No.1 on the Billboard 200 and yielded another of their most popular singles. Journey enjoyed a reunion in the mid-1990s and later regrouped with a series of lead singers. Sales have resulted in two Gold albums, eight Multi-Platinum albums, and one Diamond album, in 2005, Dont Stop Believin reached No.3 on iTunes downloads. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Journey has sold 48 million albums in the U. S. making them the 25th best-selling band and their worldwide sales have reached close to 90 million records, making them one of the worlds best-selling bands of all time. A2005 USA Today opinion poll named Journey the fifth-best American rock band in history and their songs have become arena rock staples and are still played on rock radio stations across the world. Journey ranks No.96 on VH1s 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, Journey will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 7,2017. The original members of Journey came together in San Francisco in 1973 under the auspices of former Santana manager Herbie Herbert, bassist Ross Valory and rhythm guitarist George Tickner, both of Frumious Bandersnatch, rounded out the group. Prairie Prince of The Tubes served as drummer, the band quickly abandoned the original backup group concept and developed a distinctive jazz fusion style. After an unsuccessful radio contest to name the group, roadie John Villanueva suggested the name Journey, the bands first public appearance came at the Winterland Ballroom on New Year’s Eve,1973. Prairie Prince rejoined The Tubes shortly thereafter, and the band hired British drummer Aynsley Dunbar, on February 5,1974, the new line-up made their debut at the Great American Music Hall and secured a recording contract with Columbia Records. Journey released their eponymous album in 1975, and rhythm guitarist Tickner left the band before they cut their second album. Neither album achieved significant sales, so Schon, Valory, the following years Next contained shorter tracks with more vocals, and featured Neal Schon as lead singer on two of the songs. Journeys album sales did not improve and Columbia Records requested that they change their style and add a frontman. The band hired Robert Fleischman and transitioned to a popular style, akin to that of Foreigner. In late 1977, Journey hired Steve Perry as their new lead singer, Herbie Herbert, the bands manager, also hired Roy Thomas Baker as a producer to add a layered sound approach as Baker had done with his previous band, Queen
30.
Don't Stop Believin'
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Dont Stop Believin is a song by American rock band Journey, originally released as a single from their seventh album Escape. It became a number 9 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 on its original release. In the United Kingdom, the song was not a Top 40 hit on its release, however. Mike DeGagne of AllMusic has described Dont Stop Believin as a rock song. It is one of the top-selling catalog tracks in digital history, while most popular songs have a refrain that is repeated several times throughout the song, the true chorus to Dont Stop Believin is not heard until the end of the song, with only 0,50 left. The songs writers designated the musically similar sections before the chorus as the pre-chorus, the chord progression, played by the piano in the introduction and continued throughout most of the song, is eight chords long, following a I-V-vi-IV-I-V-iii-IV progression. Each time he would call home in despair, his father would tell him, Dont stop believing or youre done, while the lyrics mention being born and raised in south Detroit, the area that would be considered south Detroit is actually the Canadian city of Windsor. Steve Perry has said, I tried north Detroit, I tried east and west and it didnt sing, I loved the way it sounded, only to find out later its actually Canada. Steve Perry was initially hesitant to allow the song to be used in The Sopranos, the song was released as downloadable content for the music video game series Rock Band on March 31,2009. The song is referred to in the chorus of the song Thisll Be My Year performed by Train on their album California 37, in which Pat Monahan sings I stopped believin, although Journey told me dont. The White Sox invited Journey lead singer Steve Perry to the teams celebration rally, subsequently, the song was played at Dodger home games throughout the 2009 season, much to the chagrin of Perry, a self-proclaimed San Francisco Giants fan. The song was used during the end following the Fox networks coverage of the 2010 World Series. Perry appeared in the Giants subsequent victory parade, and the song was played at the start of the Giants victory rally and it is also used at numerous Detroit sporting events. MSU fans immediately took to the song and began to sway, the song reached number eight on Billboards Mainstream Rock chart, and number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It sold over a million copies in vinyl, on 31 August 2009 the song topped the 3 million mark in paid downloads. It is the digital song from a pre-digital-era, and it was also the best-selling rock song in digital history until it was over taken by Imagine Dragons Radioactive in January 2014. It was placed just outside the top twenty best selling songs of all time in September 2010. It has sold over 6.8 million digital units in the US as of September 2016 and is the best selling digital track recorded in the 1980s, Dont Stop Believin has entered other charts across the world in recent years, following a gain in popularity
31.
50th Annual Grammy Awards
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The 50th Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 10,2008. It honored musical achievement of 2007 in which albums were released between October 1,2006 through September 30,2007, two nights prior to the show Aretha Franklin was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year. The years big winner was Amy Winehouse, the 24-year-old singer had entered a drug rehabilitation program. American officials initially refused her a visa, they reversed the decision. She became the female solo artist to get five awards in one night, alongside Lauryn Hill, Norah Jones, Alicia Keys. The golden anniversary of the Grammys and NARAS was noted in references and performances throughout this years ceremony, Alicia Keys was the evenings opening musician, singing and playing piano alongside archived video and audio of Frank Sinatra. Special recognition of the contributions of The Beatles also featured. The Foo Fighters won Best Rock Album, and performed their nominated song The Pretender in a collaborative performance that involved a social media selection of classical musicians. The following is an alphabetical list of performers, the following is an alphabetical list of presenters. Bold type indicates the winner out of the list of nominees, – Akwid El Abayarde Contraataca – Tego Calderón Residente O Visitante – Calle 13 El Cartel, The Big Boss – Daddy Yankee Vacaneria. /. Blige When I See U – Fantasia No One – Alicia Keys If I Have My Way– Chrisette Michele Hate on Me– Jill Scott Best Male R&B Vocal Performance Woman – Raheem DeVaughn B. U. D. D. Y. Hermansen & Shaffer Smith No One songwriters, Dirty Harry, Kerry Brothers & Alicia Keys Teachme songwriters, Ivan Barias, Adam W. Blackstone, top 10 Grammy Performances NARAS CBS GRAMMY Site
32.
John Legend
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John Roger Stephens, known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor. He has won ten Grammy Awards, one Golden Globe Award, in 2007, Legend received the Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Prior to the release of Legends debut album, his career gained momentum through a series of collaborations with already established artists. At various points in his career, Legend has sung in Magnetic Mans Getting Nowhere, Kanye Wests All of the Lights, on Slum Villages Selfish, Legend played piano on Lauryn Hills Everything Is Everything. For his solo work, he earned a Billboard Hot 100 number-one single with All of Me in 2013 and he won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2015 for writing the song Glory from the film Selma. Legend was born on December 28,1978, in Springfield and he is one of four children of Phyllis Elaine, a seamstress, and Ronald Lamar Stephens, a factory worker and former National Guardsman. Throughout his childhood, Legend was homeschooled on and off by his mother, at the age of four, he performed with his church choir. He began playing the piano at age seven, at the age of twelve, Legend attended North High School, from which he graduated salutatorian of his class four years later. According to Legend, he was offered admission to Harvard University and scholarships to Georgetown University and he attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied English with an emphasis on African-American literature. While in college, Legend served as president and musical director of a co-ed jazz and his lead vocals on the groups recording of Joan Osbornes One of Us received critical acclaim landing the song on the track list of the 1998 Best of Collegiate a Cappella compilation CD. Legend was also a member of the senior societies Sphinx Senior Society. While in college, Legend was introduced to Lauryn Hill by a friend, Hill hired him to play piano on Everything Is Everything, a song from her album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. During this period, he began to hold a number of shows around Philadelphia, eventually expanding his audience base to New York, Boston, Atlanta and he graduated college in 1999, and thereafter began producing, writing, and recording his own music. He released two albums independently, his self-titled demo and Live at Jimmys Uptown, which he sold at his shows, after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Legend began working as a management consultant for the Boston Consulting Group. He subsequently began working on his demo and began sending his work to record labels. In 2001, Devo Springsteen introduced Legend to then up-and-coming hip-hop artist Kanye West and this was after his rebranding, as the artist known as, Dorrough. After signing to Wests label, he chose his name from an idea that was given to him by poet J. Ivy. J. Ivy stated, I heard your music and it reminds me of that music from the old school and you sound like one of the legends
33.
MTV
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MTV is an American cable and satellite television channel owned by Viacom Media Networks and headquartered in New York City. Launched on August 1,1981, the originally aired music videos as guided by television personalities known as video jockeys. In its early years, MTVs main target demographic was young adults and it has received criticism towards this change of focus, both by certain segments of its audience and musicians. MTVs influence on its audience, including issues involving censorship and social activism, has also been a subject of debate for several years, in recent years, MTV had struggled with the secular decline of music-related cable media. In April 2016, MTV announced it would start to return to its original music roots with the reintroduction of the classic MTV series MTV Unplugged. It was also reported that the series MTV Cribs would be making a return on Snapchat, MTV has spawned numerous sister channels in the US and affiliated channels internationally, some of which have gone independent. As of July 2015, approximately 92,188,000 US households have received MTV, several earlier concepts for music video-based television programming had been around since the early 1960s. The Beatles had used music videos to promote their records starting in the mid-1960s, CBS rejected the idea, but Williams premiered his own musical composition Classical Gas on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, where he was head writer. The series featured clips from various popular artists, but was canceled by its distributor in 1971. The channel, which featured video disc jockeys, signed a deal with US Cable in 1978 to expand its audience from retail to cable television, the service was no longer active by the time MTV launched in 1981. The QUBE system offered many specialized channels, One of these specialized channels was Sight on Sound, a music channel that featured concert footage and music-oriented television programs. With the interactive QUBE service, viewers could vote for their favorite songs, the original programming format of MTV was created by media executive Robert W. Pittman, who later became president and chief executive officer of MTV Networks. Pittman had test-driven the music format by producing and hosting a 15-minute show, Album Tracks, the inspiration for PopClips came from a similar program on New Zealands TVNZ network named Radio with Pictures, which premiered in 1976. The concept itself had been in the works since 1966, when record companies began supplying the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation with promotional music clips to play on the air at no charge. Few artists made the trip to New Zealand to appear live. A shortened version of the shuttle launch ID ran at the top of hour in various forms. The first music video shown on MTV was The Buggles Video Killed the Radio Star and this was followed by the video for Pat Benatars You Better Run. Sporadically, the screen would go black when an employee at MTV inserted a tape into a VCR, MTVs lower third graphics that appeared near the beginning and end of music videos would eventually use the recognizable Kabel typeface for about 25 years
34.
MTV Networks
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Its sister international division is Viacom International Media Networks. The company was founded in 1984 after Warner Communications and American Express decided to divest the basic cable assets of Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, renaming it as MTV Networks, Warner-Amex had originally created and owned Nickelodeon, MTV, VH1 and The Movie Channel. Viacom acquired 66% of the company in 1985 and then acquired the remaining interest in 1986 and it was then folded into Viacom International Inc. a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. and is no longer a distinct legal entity. Viacom Media Networks family of brands is divided into three sections, based on the type of programming and audiences they serve. All networks are simulcasted in high definition aside from the music networks. The company also owns internet properties, such as MTV News, MTV International, the company ran a virtual world system, Virtual MTV in the late 2000s. It formerly owned Neopets, Atom Entertainment, and other web properties before shutting them down or selling them to companies in the 2000s and 2010s. Viacom had a division called MTV Games, which used to publish the Rock Band and Dance Central series by Harmonix Music Systems. MTV Networks opened another game division called 345 Games in New York City, the Rock Band series and the Dance Central series will be published by other publishers. The first game published by 345 Games was Ugly Americans, Apocalypsegaddeon based on the Comedy Central TV series, recently,345 Games has announced a video game based on the popular MMA franchise, Bellator Fighting Championships. Viacom International Media Networks is a division of Viacom International and its headquarters are based in New York, London, Warsaw and Buenos Aires. It consists of 64 localized MTV channels, MTV Live HD, VH1, Nickelodeon, TMF, VIVA, Comedy Central, Game One, Nitrome Limited, Shockwave, Addicting Games, Atom Films and Xfire. S. Including MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon are experiencing falls in viewership unlike other US broadcasters, MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon are of most concern to investors
35.
Nielsen Business Media
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Nielsen Holdings PLC is a global information, data, and measurement company with headquarters in the United States. Nielsen operates in over 100 countries and employs approximately 44,000 people worldwide, total revenues were $6.2 billion in 2015. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is currently a component of the S&P500, in 2016, American Marketing Association ranked Nielsen number 1 among top 50 Market Research Firms in the United States. Nielsen was founded in 1923 by Arthur C, Nielsen, Sr. who invented an approach to measuring competitive sales results that made the concept of “market share” a practical management tool. The Company was originally incorporated in the Netherlands and later was purchased on May 24,2006 by a consortium of private equity firms. In January 2011, Nielsen consummated an initial offering of common stock and, subsequently. The companys operations span developing and emerging markets worldwide, in more than 100 countries, upon approval, the company became incorporated under English law and was registered as a public limited company to be named Nielsen Holdings PLC. James Attwood Jr. is Nielsens Executive Chairman, and Mitch Barns is Nielsens Chief Executive Officer, james Attwood succeeded Dave Calhoun as Executive Chairman in January 2016. He served as Nielsen CEO from to 2006 to 2014, when he was succeeded by Barns, barnes joined Nielsen in 1997 and has held various roles in Europe, Asia, and North America leading major parts of the business. While the Nielsen brand is most often associated with television ratings, after substantial work to simplify the company over the last several years, Nielsen today aligns its business into two reporting segments, Buy and Watch. Nielsens Buy segment primarily helps packaged goods companies and retailers understand what consumers are buying in terms of categories, brands, the company’s aim is to measure all consumer purchases as buying behavior continues to fragment across channels and segments. For example, it is Nielsens data that measures how much Diet Coke vs. Diet Pepsi is sold in stores and they also can provide insights into how changes in product offerings, pricing or marketing would change sales. Major clients include The Coca-Cola Company, Nestlé S. A, the Procter & Gamble Company, Unilever Group, and Walmart. While the United States is the company’s largest market, Nielsen is a global company, in the Buy business, it covers 106 countries representing more than 90% of the world’s population. Nielsens Watch segment primarily measures what consumers are watching across most devices, TV, radio, computers, mobile, over-the-top, the company measures consumption of programming and advertising across all distribution points. Nielsens ratings are used by advertisers and networks to shape the buying and selling of advertising, major clients include CBS, NBC Universal, News Corporation, and The Walt Disney Company. Nielsen’s Watch business measures media in 47 countries that represent approximately 80% of global advertising spending. Nielsen’s digital audience measurement capability is a growing part of this footprint
36.
Kanye West discography
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American rapper and music producer Kanye West has released seven studio albums, two live albums, three video albums, four mixtapes, one hundred and ten singles and ninety-three music videos. West has sold over 21 million albums and 66 million digital downloads worldwide, as of May 2012, six of his songs have each exceeded three million digital downloads. Six of his seven studio albums have been certified at least platinum in the United States, in 2003, West collaborated with rapper Twista and singer Jamie Foxx on the song Slow Jamz, which became Wests first single to top the US Billboard Hot 100. In 2005, West released his studio album Late Registration. Late Registration produced five singles, including Touch the Sky, Heard Em Say and Gold Digger, the critically acclaimed album has sold over three million copies and has attained five multi-platinum certifications, including a triple-platinum certification from the RIAA. In 2007, Wests third studio album Graduation debuted at one on the Billboard 200 and shipped over 957,000 units in its first week. Graduation held the one spot on the Billboard 200 for over a month. It supported by five singles, including the Billboard Hot 100 number one single Stronger, in 2008, Wests fourth album 808s & Heartbreak was released and became his third consecutive number one release on the Billboard 200. It featured two top three singles, Love Lockdown and Heartless, from 2008 to 2009, West collaborated with artists on multiple Hot 100 top ten singles, including American Boy by singer Estelle, Swagga Like Us by rappers Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and T. I. Knock You Down by singer Keri Hilson, Run This Town by Jay-Z and Rihanna, in 2010, West released his fifth studio album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, continuing a streak of number one albums for West. Four singles were released from the album, all of which reached the top 25 on the Billboard Hot 100, Power, Monster, Runaway and All of the Lights. In 2011, West collaborated with American singer Katy Perry on a remix of her song E. T. which hit one on the Billboard Hot 100. Watch the Throne, a collaboration with Jay-Z, was released as Wests sixth studio album in August 2011, peaking at number one on the Billboard 200, Watch the Throne produced seven singles, including the Billboard Hot 100 top 25 singles H•A•M, Otis and Niggas in Paris. Wests sixth studio album Yeezus was released in June 2013 and debuted at one in the United States. It included three singles including Fade, the album was met with positive reviews. Official website Kanye West at AllMusic Kanye West discography, forum, and marketplace at Discogs Kanye West discography at MusicBrainz
37.
Kanye West production discography
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The following list is a discography of production by Kanye West, an American rapper and record producer. It includes a list of songs produced, co-produced and remixed by year, artist, album, turn It Out Sample Credit, Davy DMX – One For the Treble Sample Credit, Willie Hutch – Hoespital Prelude of Love Theme 03. My Life Get It Started 02 and you Made Me Sample Credit, Eddie Kendricks – Time In A Bottle 03. Minute Man Sample Credit, Bill Withers – Lovely Day 08, joanne Sample Credit, George Benson – California Dreamin 09. Rebuilding Sample Credit, Grover Washington, Jr. – Love Song 170006, the Truth Sample Credit, Graham Nash – Chicago 01. Lets Get Married Sample Credit, Hall & Oates – Ground for Separation 16, thats Whats Happenin Sample Credit, Sylvia Striplin – Give Me Your Love 09. Stir Crazy Sample Credit, Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell – Sunday Mornin 11, Not the One Sample Credit, Soul Dog – Cant Stop Loving You 12. Dont Mess With Me Sample Credit, Pat Benatar – Heartbreaker 05 and this Can’t Be Life Sample Credit, Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes – I Miss You 17. Nothing Like It Sample Credit, Dynamic Superiors – Aint Nothing Like the Real Thing 10, takeover Sample Credit, The Doors –5 to 103. Izzo Sample Credit, The Jackson Five – I Want You Back 08, Heart of the City Sample Credit, Bobby Bland – Aint No Love In The Heart Of The City 09. Never Change Sample Credit, David Ruffin – Common Man 15, Girls, Girls, Girls Sample Credit, The Persuaders – Trying Girls Out 07. Got Nowhere Sample Credit, The Miracles – Nowhere To Go 12, Dead or Alive Sample Credit, Buffy Sainte-Marie – Lazarus 11. Poppa Was a Playa Sample Credit, Eddie Kendricks – The Newness is Gone 03, in Cold Blood Sample Credit, – Gladys Knight – And This is Love 04. Guess Whos Back Sample Credit, – The Originals – Sunrise Sample Credit, – Dr. Dre – Xxplosive Sample Credit, Heaven Sample Credit, – The Dramatics – That Heaven Kind of Feeling 05. Brown Sugar Sample Credit, Norman Connors – Invitation 02, muzik Sample Credit, Wings – Old Siam Sir Sample Credit, Eddie Bo – Hook and Sling – Part I & Part 2 Disc 1,01. A Dream Sample Credit, The Notorious B. I. G, – Juicy Sample Credit, Blackjack – Stay Sample Credit, The 5th Dimension - The Rainmaker 04. 03 Bonnie & Clyde Sample Credit, Prince – If I Was Your Girlfriend Sample Credit, poppin Tags Sample Credit, The Marvelettes – After All Disc 2,06. Some People Hate Sample Credit, Brenda Russell – Word Called Love 03, get By Sample Credit, Nina Simone – Sinnerman Sample Credit, Love – Doggone 09
38.
The College Dropout
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The College Dropout is the debut studio album by American hip hop artist Kanye West, released February 10,2004, by Roc-A-Fella Records. It was recorded over a period of four years, beginning in 1999, nonetheless intent on pursuing a solo career, it was several years before West finally received a record deal from Roc-A-Fella Records. It features vocal contributions from Jay-Z, Mos Def, Jamie Foxx, Syleena Johnson, diverging from the then-dominant gangster persona in hip hop, Wests lyrics concern themes of family, self-consciousness, materialism, religion, racism, and higher education. The album was promoted by singles including Through the Wire and Jesus Walks, All Falls Down and Slow Jamz both charted within the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, with the latter charting at number one. Upon its release, The College Dropout debuted at two on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 441,000 copies during its first week. It is Wests best-selling album in the United States, with sales of 3.4 million copies. It has been named by Time and Rolling Stone, among other publications, although he had attained success as a producer, Kanye West aspired to be a rapper, but had struggled to attain a record deal. Record companies ignored him because he did not portray the gangsta image prominent in hip hop at the time. After a series of meetings with Capitol Records, West was ultimately denied an artist deal, according to Capitol Records A&R, Joe Weinberger, he was approached by West and almost signed a deal with him, but another person in the company convinced Capitols president not to. Desperate to keep West from defecting to another label, then-label head Damon Dash reluctantly signed West to Roc-A-Fella Records, the crash left him with a shattered jaw, which had to be wired shut in reconstructive surgery. The accident inspired West, two weeks after being admitted to a hospital, he recorded a song at the Record Plant Studios with his jaw wired shut. West added that the album was my medicine, as working on the record distracted him from the pain, through The Wire was first available on Wests Get Well Soon. At the same time, West announced that he was working on an album called The College Dropout, Dont let society tell you, This is what you have to do. The College Dropout was recorded at The Record Plant in Los Angeles, California, according to John Monopoly, Wests friend, manager and business partner, the album. Hes been gathering beats for years and he was always producing with the intention of being a rapper. Theres beats on the album hes been saving for himself for years. At one point, West hovered between making a portion of the production in the studio and the majority within his own apartment in Newark, New Jersey. Because it was an apartment, West was able to set up a home studio in one of the rooms
39.
Graduation (album)
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Graduation is the third studio album by American hip hop recording artist and record producer Kanye West. It was released on September 11,2007, by Roc-A-Fella Records, Recording sessions for the album took place during 2005 to 2007 at Chung King Studios, Sony Music Studios in New York City, at Chalice Studios and The Record Plant in Los Angeles. It was primarily produced by West himself, with contributions from DJ Toomp, as well as Mike Dean, Nottz, Brian All Day Miller, Eric Hudson, Warryn Campbell, Gee Roberson, Plain Pat and Jon Brion. It features guest contributions from artists, including Mos Def, Dwele, T-Pain, Lil Wayne, DJ Premier, the albums cover artwork was designed by Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami. Toward this end, West incorporated synthesizer sounds into his production and dabbled with electronic music, lyrically, the album is more introspective in comparison to its predecessors, as West dedicated much of Graduation towards analyzing himself and conveying his ambivalent outlook on his newfound fame. It continues the theme of Wests previous two studio albums, The College Dropout and Late Registration. The album debuted at one on the US Billboard 200. It produced five singles, including the international hits Cant Tell Me Nothing, Stronger, the outcome of the competition marks a turning point in hip-hop culture, when the dominance of gangsta rap in mainstream hip-hop was brought to an end. Graduation received positive reviews from most critics and earned West several accolades, the album has sold 2,700,000 copies in the US and has been certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album demonstrates yet another distinctive progression in Wests musical style, Kanye West was particularly influenced by house music, a subgenre of electronic dance music that first originated in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois in the early 1980s. West has stated growing up, he would listen to hip-hop music at home or in his car. While he rarely listened to house at home, he felt it was an important part of his culture. Along with house music, Graduation contains samples and music elements of euro-disco, hard rock, electronica, lounge, progressive rock, synth-pop, electro, krautrock, dub, reggae, and dancehall. Also, for much of the studio album, Kanye West modified his style of rapping and adopted a dilatory. West altered his vocabulary, he utilized less of the percussive, rhythmic consonants in favor of the more smoother, in addition to U2, West drew inspiration from other arena rock bands such as The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin for the melodies and chord progressions of his songs. He also chose to back on the guest appearances, limiting himself to just one single guest rap verse on the entire studio album. Largely due to all this and the inclusion of the layered electronic synthesizers, but he also acknowledged the fact that the differences did not right away and without a doubt make Graduation a good album. However, he felt it was a representation of the music he was listening to at that time, Kanye West began working on Graduation immediately after releasing his second studio album Late Registration
40.
808s & Heartbreak
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808s & Heartbreak is the fourth studio album by American recording artist Kanye West. It was released on November 24,2008, by Roc-A-Fella Records, West recorded the album during September and October 2008 at Glenwood Studios in Burbank, California and Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii, with the help of producers No I. D. 808s & Heartbreak debuted at one on the Billboard 200. Despite varying responses from listeners, the received positive reviews from most critics and was named one of 2008s best records in several year-end lists. Four singles were released to promote the record, including the hit singles Love Lockdown, by 2013, it had sold 1.7 million copies in the United States. Following the release of his studio album Graduation, the remainder of 2007. On November 10,2007, Wests mother Donda West died due to complications arising following cosmetic surgery involving a tummy tuck, months later, West and fiancée Alexis Phifer ended their engagement and their long-term intermittent relationship, which had begun in 2002. At the same time, West struggled to adapt to his pop star status he had once striven to achieve. The loss, loneliness and longing for companionship and a sense of normality served to inspire 808s & Heartbreak, West stated that This album was therapeutic – its lonely at the top. A photograph taken by Danny Clinch of West kissing his mother on the cheek was included in the booklet liner notes. West felt that his emotions could not be expressed simply through rapping. There were melodies that were in me, he explained, what was in me I couldnt stop. Either call it pop or pop art, either one Im good with, the album was recorded over a span of approximately three weeks from September to October 2008. Recording sessions took place at Glenwood Studios in Burbank, California and at Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, as implied by its title, 808s & Heartbreak prominently features the Roland TR-808 drum machine. West utilized the sounds created by the 808 and manipulated its pitch to produce a distorted, electronic sound and he felt the characteristic of the sound was representative of his state of mind. According to West, the fact that Hawaiis area code was 808 was coincidental, the realization inspired him to pursue his direction with the album, however. In terms of direction, Wests intentions, according to Mike Dean, were to go against the typical sound of hip hop beat. Overall, West maintained a minimal but functional approach towards the studio production
41.
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
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My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is the fifth studio album by American hip hop rapper and producer Kanye West. Following a period of public and legal controversy, West retreated to an exile in Hawaii in 2009. There, he worked on the album in a communal recording environment that involved numerous contributing musicians, the album features guest appearances from Bon Iver, Jay Z, Pusha T, Rick Ross, Kid Cudi, Nicki Minaj, John Legend and more. Production is led by West himself, alongside a variety of record producers including Mike Dean. Jeff Bhasker, RZA, S1, Bink and DJ Frank E, the album deals with themes of excess and celebrity, and explores such issues as consumer culture, race, and the idealism of the American Dream. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was released on November 22,2010, to promote the album, West released free songs through his GOOD Fridays series and four singles, the Billboard hits Power, Monster, and Runaway, and the international hit All of the Lights. It was also promoted with a film set to the records music. The album debuted at one on the Billboard 200 and eventually sold 1,032,000 copies in the United States. A widespread critical success, it was named the best record of 2010 by many publications and has appeared on several lists ranking the greatest albums of all time. The album was conceived during Wests self-imposed exile in Oahu, Hawaii, following a period of legal and public image controversy amid an overworked mental state. West later said that his fatigue from overworking led to his controversial outburst at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, his disgust with its ensuing media response and it was formerly known as Good Ass Job and tentatively Dark Twisted Fantasy. GOOD Music artist Big Sean was the second to announce the title of the album as Good Ass Job, on July 24,2010, on Kanye Wests blog, a banner appeared reading My Dark Twisted Fantasy Trailer. On July 28,2010, West announced via his new official Twitter account that The album is no longer called Good Ass Job Im bouncing a couple of titles around now, the official title, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, was announced on October 5,2010. It was reported that West spent over $3 million in expenses from his record label Def Jam on the recording. Drake, Common, Jay-Z, Eminem, Lil Wayne, John Legend, Fergie, Rihanna, The-Dream, Ryan Leslie, Elton John, Justin Vernon, Seal, Beyoncé, Kid Cudi, Mos Def, Santigold, Alicia Keys, Elly Jackson, and Tony Williams. Record producers who participated in the sessions with West included Q-Tip, RZA, DJ Premier, Madlib, Madlib said he made five beats for the album, while DJ Premier said his beats were ultimately discarded. West, who had recorded at Avex for 808s & Heartbreak. According to Noah Callahan-Bever, who visited West during the recording sessions and he heads to another studio room to make progress on another song
42.
Watch the Throne
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Watch the Throne is a collaborative studio album by American rappers Jay Z and Kanye West, released on August 8,2011, by Roc-A-Fella Records, Roc Nation, and Def Jam Recordings. Before the album, Jay Z and West had collaborated on their respective singles, as longtime friends, they originally sought out to record a five-song EP together, but the project eventually evolved into a full-length album. Recording sessions took place at locations and began in November 2010. Production on the album was led by West himself, alongside a variety of record producers including Mike Dean, Swizz Beatz, Sak Pase, Jeff Bhasker, The Neptunes. Jay-Z and Wests braggadocio lyrics exhibit themes of opulence, fame, materialism, power, the album expresses other topics such as Jay-Zs thoughts on fatherhood, Wests reflection on being deemed a social villain, and their legacy as performers. Music writers interpreted the subject matter to concern the rappers plight as African Americans struggling with financial success in America. The album produced seven singles, including H•A•M, Otis, Lift Off, No Church in the Wild, and the Billboard Hot 100 top five Niggas in Paris, which all received music videos. Jay-Z and West promoted the album with the Watch the Throne Tour that spanned October 2011 to June 2012, Watch the Throne debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 436,000 copies its first week. While some critics found the lyrical content uninspiring, its production. Many critics and publications placed the album in their year-end best-of lists and it also earned Jay-Z and West seven Grammy Award nominations. The album is certified platinum in the US, Wests early production work on Jay-Zs music helped raise his profile in the music industry. While originally only viewed as a producer, West eventually was seen as both a viable rapper and producer thanks to the success of his debut album The College Dropout, West continued to be one of Jay-Zs main producers on subsequent albums such as The Black Album and Kingdom Come. Jay-Z appeared on Kanyes first two albums as well, and the two frequently collaborated, during the promotional stages of Wests My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, a remix of the song Power surfaced featuring Jay-Z. Following this, West announced on Twitter his intention to drop a five-track EP with Jay-Z, also according to the rapper, the track Monster was intended for the EP, though that failed to surface. It was later revealed by West that the project had expanded into a full-length album in an October 2010 interview for MTV. He said in the interview that they planned to record in the south of France, production began in November 2010 in England and continued during available times in Jay-Zs and Wests schedules at locations in Australia, Paris, Abu Dhabi, New York City, and Los Angeles. He noted difficulties in the process, including arguments with West regarding their direction. Following the release of single, H•A•M in January 2011
