1.
Big Sean
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Sean Michael Leonard Anderson, known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper from Detroit, Michigan. Sean signed with Kanye Wests GOOD Music in 2007, Def Jam Recordings in 2008, after releasing a number of mixtapes, Sean released his debut studio album, Finally Famous, in 2011. He released his studio album, Hall of Fame, on August 27,2013. Seans third studio album Dark Sky Paradise was released in 2015, Sean Michael Leonard Anderson was born on March 25,1988 in Santa Monica, California to Myra and James Anderson. When he was 3 months old, he moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he was raised by his mother, a school teacher and he attended the Detroit Waldorf School and graduated from Cass Technical High School with a 3.7 GPA. Big Sean is often heard saying west side in his songs, he is referring to the west side of his hometown Detroit, in 2005, Kanye West was doing a radio interview at 102.7 FM. Hearing about this, Sean headed over to the station to meet West, initially West was reluctant to hear him, however he gave Sean 16 bars to rap for him. According to Big Sean, West enjoyed his freestyle, As we get to the entrance of the radio station and we stopped in the middle of the doorway. He starts looking at me and bobbing his head, after the freestyle, Sean left West his demo tape. Two years later, West signed Big Sean to GOOD Music, on September 30,2007, Big Sean released his first official mixtape Finally Famous, The Mixtape. His hit single, Getcha Some, produced by WrighTrax, attained media attention and led to articles in The Source and he also recorded a music video for Getcha Some, which was directed by Hype Williams. Sean released a mixtape hosted by Mick Boogie on April 16,2009. It featured the songs Million Dollars, Getcha Some and Supa Dupa, an unauthorized leak of his collaboration with Drake, called Made made its way onto the internet on April 30,2010. In an interview with TheHipHopUpdate. com on May 1, Big Sean expressed his disappointment over the leak, Big Seans official Facebook page confirmed that his debut album Finally Famous & Consequences Cons TV would be released on September 14,2010. On August 31, Big Sean tweeted that the album was not coming out on that day, the albums lead single, My Last, features vocals from Chris Brown and was produced by No I. D. According to Amazon. com, Big Seans Finally Famous was delayed by a week, Big Sean has revealed the cover art for his G. O. O. D. Music debut and explained that the one-week pushback was to be blamed on sample, the official track list was revealed on June 7. Finally Famous, Seans debut studio album, was released June 28,2011, and spawned three hit singles, My Last, Marvin & Chardonnay and Dance
2.
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
3.
Hip hop music
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It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements, MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, break dancing, and graffiti writing. Other elements include sampling beats or bass lines from records, while often used to refer solely to rapping, hip hop more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. Hip hops early evolution occurred as sampling technology and drum machines became available and affordable. Turntablist techniques such as scratching and beatmatching developed along with the breaks and Jamaican toasting, rapping developed as a vocal style in which the artist speaks or chants along rhythmically with an instrumental or synthesized beat. The Sugarhill Gangs 1979 song Rappers Delight is widely regarded to be the first hip hop record to gain popularity in the mainstream. The 1980s marked the diversification of hip hop as the genre developed more complex styles, prior to the 1980s, hip hop music was largely confined within the United States. However, during the 1980s, it began to spread to scenes in dozens of countries. New school hip hop was the wave of hip hop music, originating in 1983–84 with the early records of Run-D. M. C. The Golden age hip hop period was a period between the mid-1980s and the early 1990s. Notable artists from this era include the Juice Crew, Public Enemy, & Rakim, Boogie Down Productions and KRS-One, EPMD, Slick Rick, Beastie Boys, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, Ultramagnetic MCs, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest. Gangsta rap is a subgenre of hip hop that often focuses on the violent lifestyles, in the West Coast hip hop style, G-funk dominated mainstream hip hop for several years during the 1990s. I. G. In the 1990s, hip hop began to diversify with other regional styles emerging, such as Southern rap, at the same time, hip hop continued to be assimilated into other genres of popular music, examples being Neo soul and nu metal. Hip hop became a pop music genre in the mid-1990s. The popularity of hip hop music continued through the 2000s, with hip hop influences also increasingly finding their way into mainstream pop, the United States also saw the success of regional styles such as crunk, a Southern genre that emphasized the beats and music more than the lyrics. Starting in 2005, sales of hip hop music in the United States began to severely wane, during the mid-2000s, alternative hip hop secured a place in the mainstream, due in part to the crossover success of artists such as OutKast and Kanye West. Creation of the hip hop is often credited to Keith Cowboy, rapper with Grandmaster Flash. However, Lovebug Starski, Keith Cowboy, and DJ Hollywood used the term when the music was known as disco rap. Cowboy later worked the hip hop cadence into a part of his stage performance, the first use of the term in print was in The Village Voice, by Steven Hager, later author of a 1984 history of hip hop
4.
Otis (song)
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Otis is a song by American hip hop artists Kanye West and Jay-Z, from their first collaborative album Watch the Throne. The song posthumously features soul singer Otis Redding, whose version of Try a Little Tenderness is sampled in the song, the production was covered solely by West. The track was premiered by Funkmaster Flexs Hot 97 radio show and was released onto the Internet the day afterward, lyrically, the song has the two rappers sharing lines discussing wealth, decadence and fame. Several publications placed the song amongst the best of the year, the track was released as the second single from Watch the Throne on July 20,2011. The song peaked at number 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100, the song has since been certified Platinum for sales exceeding 1,000,000. The song received a video directed by Spike Jonze on August 2011. The video primarily shows West and Jay-Z modifying a Maybach luxury car and then driving around in it with no doors or windows, after its release, the video was met with positive reception. The cover art was designed by Italian fashion designer Riccardo Tisci, Jay and West performed the song at all the stops on their 2011 Watch the Throne Tour. It was also performed at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, at the 54th Grammy Awards in 2012, Otis was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song and won a Grammy for Best Rap Performance. On July 7,2011, Otis was previewed along with the songs from Watch the Throne by Jay-Z at a private listening session at the Mercer Hotel in New York City. A select group of reporters, music journalists, and contest winners were present at the listening session, after the listening session, it was confirmed that a song called Otis, would appear on the album. It was reported that the song would sample soul music singer Otis Reddings version of Try a Little Tenderness, on July 20, Otis was premiered on Funkmaster Flexs Hot 97 radio show and subsequently was released for download to the Internet as a way to promote the upcoming album. On July 22, the song was released to the iTunes Store and was a download for those who pre-ordered the album. It was sent by The Island Def Jam Music Group to rhythmic contemporary, the cover art for Otis was designed by Italian fashion designer Riccardo Tisci, who had previously designed the artwork for the H•A•M single cover and the Watch the Throne album cover. It features the American flag, both names and the name of the song and the album. The artwork was released onto the following the songs release. Bu Thiam, Def Jam Vice-President of A&R, was with West and Jay-Z throughout the recording process and he recalled the story of the song Otis, was late for his flight, we were in the studio working all day and he was late for his flight. As we were leaving he was like, Yo hold on for a second, so he drops his bags and goes to the MPC and his assistant is rushing him and hes just f----ing with
5.
YouTube
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YouTube is an American video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California. The service was created by three former PayPal employees—Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim—in February 2005, Google bought the site in November 2006 for US$1.65 billion, YouTube now operates as one of Googles subsidiaries. Unregistered users can watch videos on the site, while registered users are permitted to upload an unlimited number of videos. Videos deemed potentially offensive are available only to registered users affirming themselves to be at least 18 years old, YouTube earns advertising revenue from Google AdSense, a program which targets ads according to site content and audience. YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, Hurley had studied design at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Chen and Karim studied computer science together at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Karim could not easily find video clips of either event online, Hurley and Chen said that the original idea for YouTube was a video version of an online dating service, and had been influenced by the website Hot or Not. YouTube began as a venture capital-funded technology startup, primarily from an $11.5 million investment by Sequoia Capital between November 2005 and April 2006, YouTubes early headquarters were situated above a pizzeria and Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, California. The domain name www. youtube. com was activated on February 14,2005, the first YouTube video, titled Me at the zoo, shows co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo. The video was uploaded on April 23,2005, and can still be viewed on the site, YouTube offered the public a beta test of the site in May 2005. The first video to reach one million views was a Nike advertisement featuring Ronaldinho in November 2005. Following a $3.5 million investment from Sequoia Capital in November, the site grew rapidly, and in July 2006 the company announced that more than 65,000 new videos were being uploaded every day, and that the site was receiving 100 million video views per day. The site has 800 million unique users a month and it is estimated that in 2007 YouTube consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet in 2000. The choice of the name www. youtube. com led to problems for a similarly named website, the sites owner, Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment, filed a lawsuit against YouTube in November 2006 after being regularly overloaded by people looking for YouTube. Universal Tube has since changed the name of its website to www. utubeonline. com, in October 2006, Google Inc. announced that it had acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in Google stock, and the deal was finalized on November 13,2006. In March 2010, YouTube began free streaming of certain content, according to YouTube, this was the first worldwide free online broadcast of a major sporting event. On March 31,2010, the YouTube website launched a new design, with the aim of simplifying the interface, Google product manager Shiva Rajaraman commented, We really felt like we needed to step back and remove the clutter. In May 2010, YouTube videos were watched more than two times per day. This increased to three billion in May 2011, and four billion in January 2012, in February 2017, one billion hours of YouTube was watched every day
6.
Soul music
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Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It combines elements of African-American gospel music, rhythm and blues, Soul music became popular for dancing and listening in the United States, where record labels such as Motown, Atlantic and Stax were influential during the Civil Rights Movement. Soul also became popular around the world, directly influencing rock music, catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps and extemporaneous body moves, are an important feature of soul music. Other characteristics are a call and response between the lead vocalist and the chorus and a tense vocal sound. The style also occasionally uses improvisational additions, twirls and auxiliary sounds, Soul music reflected the African-American identity and it stressed the importance of an African-American culture. The new-found African-American consciousness led to new styles of music, which boasted pride in being black, Soul music dominated the U. S. R&B chart in the 1960s, and many recordings crossed over into the pop charts in the U. S. By 1968, the music genre had begun to splinter. Some soul artists developed funk music, while other singers and groups developed slicker, more sophisticated, by the early 1970s, soul music had been influenced by psychedelic rock and other genres, leading to psychedelic soul. The United States saw the development of neo soul around 1994, there are also several other subgenres and offshoots of soul music. The term soul had been used among African-American musicians to emphasize the feeling of being an African-American in the United States, according to another source, Soul music was the result of the urbanization and commercialization of rhythm and blues in the 60s. The phrase soul music itself, referring to music with secular lyrics, is first attested in 1961. The term soul in African-American parlance has connotations of African-American pride, gospel groups in the 1940s and 1950s occasionally used the term as part of their name. The jazz style that derived from gospel came to be called soul jazz, important innovators whose recordings in the 1950s contributed to the emergence of soul music included Clyde McPhatter, Hank Ballard, and Etta James. Ray Charles is often cited as popularizing the genre with his string of hits starting with 1954s I Got a Woman. Singer Bobby Womack said, Ray was the genius and he turned the world onto soul music. Charles was open in acknowledging the influence of Pilgrim Travelers vocalist Jesse Whitaker on his singing style, little Richard and James Brown were equally influential. Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson are also acknowledged as soul forefathers. Cooke became popular as the singer of gospel group The Soul Stirrers
7.
Chardonnay
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Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, for new and developing wine regions, growing Chardonnay is seen as a rite of passage and an easy entry into the international wine market. The Chardonnay grape itself is neutral, with many of the flavors commonly associated with the grape being derived from such influences as terroir. It is vinified in many different styles, from the lean, crisply mineral wines of Chablis, France, to New World wines with oak, and tropical fruit flavors. In cool climates, Chardonnay tends to be medium to light body with noticeable acidity and flavors of plum, apple. In warmer locations, the flavors become more citrus, peach, wines that have gone through malolactic fermentation tend to have softer acidity and fruit flavors with buttery mouthfeel and hazelnut notes. Chardonnay is an important component of many sparkling wines around the world, a peak in popularity in the late 1980s gave way to a backlash among those wine connoisseur who saw the grape as a leading negative component of the globalization of wine. For much of its history, a connection was assumed between Chardonnay and Pinot noir or Pinot blanc, in addition to being found in the same region of France for centuries, ampelographers noted that the leaves of each plant have near-identical shape and structure. Pierre Galet disagreed with this assessment, believing that Chardonnay was not related to any other major grape variety, viticulturalists Maynard Amerine and Harold Olmo proposed a descendency from a wild Vitis vinifera vine that was a step removed from white Muscat. Another theory stated that it originated from an ancient indigenous vine found in Cyprus, modern DNA fingerprinting research at University of California, Davis, now suggests that Chardonnay is the result of a cross between the Pinot noir and Gouais blanc grape varieties. The Romans are thought to have brought Gouais blanc from Croatia, the Pinot of the French aristocracy grew in close proximity to the Gouais blanc, giving both grapes ample opportunity to interbreed. Since the two parents were distant, many of the crosses showed hybrid vigour and were selected for further propagation. As of 2006,34 clonal varieties of Chardonnay could be found in vineyards throughout France, examples include the lower-yielding clones Dijon-76,95 and 96 that produce more flavor-concentrated clusters. Dijon-77 and 809 produce more aromatic wines with a perfume, while Dijon-75,78,121,124,125 and 277 are more vigorous. New World varieties include the Mendoza clone, which produced some of the early California Chardonnays, the Mendoza clone is prone to develop millerandage, also known as hens and chicks, where the berries develop unevenly. In places such as Oregon, the use of newer Dijon clones has had success in those regions of the Willamette Valley with climates similar to that of Burgundy. Chardonnay has served as parent to several French-American hybrid grapes, as well as crossings with other V. vinifera varieties, examples include the hybrid Chardonel, which was a Chardonnay and Seyval blanc cross produced in 1953 at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station. Mutations of the Chardonnay grape include the rare pink-berried Chardonnay Rose, also Chardonnay Blanc Musqué, Chardonnay Blanc Musqué is mostly found around the Mâconnais village of Clessé and sometimes confused with the Dijon-166 clone planted in South Africa, which yields Muscat-like aromas
8.
Record producer
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A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performers music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has many roles during the recording process, the roles of a producer vary. The producer may perform these roles himself, or help select the engineer, the producer may also pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record companies budget. A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording. Producers also often take on an entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, contracts. In the 2010s, the industry has two kinds of producers with different roles, executive producer and music producer. Executive producers oversee project finances while music producers oversee the process of recording songs or albums. In most cases the producer is also a competent arranger, composer. The producer will also liaise with the engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation actually is music director. The music producers job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music, at the beginning of record industry, producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1950s and 1960s due to technological developments, the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously, all of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio and the performance had to be recorded. As well, for a song that used 20 instruments, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. Examples include the rock sound effects of the 1960s, e. g. playing back the sound of recorded instruments backwards or clanging the tape to produce unique sound effects. These new instruments were electric or electronic, and thus they used instrument amplifiers, new technologies like multitracking changed the goal of recording, A producer could blend together multiple takes and edit together different sections to create the desired sound. For example, in jazz fusion Bandleader-composer Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, producers like Phil Spector and George Martin were soon creating recordings that were, in practical terms, almost impossible to realise in live performance. Producers became creative figures in the studio, other examples of such engineers includes Joe Meek, Teo Macero, Brian Wilson, and Biddu
9.
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
10.
GOOD Music
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GOOD Music, Inc. is an American record label founded in 2004, by hip hop artist and record producer Kanye West. The label has housed several successful recording artists throughout the years, such as Big Sean, Pusha T, Common, John Legend, Tyga, Kid Cudi, Desiigner, Teyana Taylor and Mos Def, among others. Their roster of producers include Travis Scott, Southside, Hit-Boy, Hudson Mohawke, Q-Tip, Jeff Bhasker. The label has released 10 albums certified gold or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America, Kanye West founded GOOD Music in 2004, in conjunction with Sony BMG, shortly after releasing his debut album, The College Dropout. John Legend, Common, and West were the labels inaugural artists, legends Get Lifted was the labels first album release - this received eight nominations and three wins at the 2006 Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist and Best R&B Album. In October 2006, Legend released his album, Once Again. Commons Be, the second release, was the recipient of four Grammy Award nominations. The label later added GLC, Really Doe, Malik Yusef, Tony Williams, Wests second studio album, Late Registration, included featured guest appearances by every artist signed to GOOD Musics roster at the time of its release in August 2005. In May 2007, Detroit rapper Big Sean signed to the label, in 2008, West signed British singer-songwriter Mr Hudson, after hearing A Tale of Two Cities. He also signed then up-and-coming rapper Kid Cudi, after hearing his work from producer and manager Plain Pat. Kid Cudis debut album, Man on the Moon, The End of Day was released under GOOD Music on September 15,2009, the album earned three Grammy nominations and was certified Gold by the RIAA. A month later Mr Hudsons solo debut, Straight No Chaser, was released, the label held a cypher for the 2010 BET Hip Hop Awards in June, that featured West, Common, Big Sean and new signee Cyhi the Prynce. In late 2010, West released several tracks featuring himself, and others members of the GOOD Music roster, in a free weekly giveaway known as, G. O. O. D. In September 2010, West signed Brooklyn rapper Mos Def to GOOD Music. and shortly afterwards Consequence released a diss track, the following month Pusha T announced his signing. Late in 2010, Kid Cudi released his studio album Man on the Moon II, The Legend of Mr. Rager. In April 2011, West signed American rapper and producer Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest, Kanye West also signed producer Hit-Boy, to Very G. O. O. D. In 2011, West signed Nigerian artists Dbanj and Don Jazzy, in June 2011, GOOD Music signed their first distribution agreement, with Def Jam Recordings. Big Seans debut Finally Famous was the first album released by GOOD Music with distribution by Def Jam, in late 2011, plans were announced for a release of a compilation album, later entitled Cruel Summer
11.
Twista
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Carl Terrell Mitchell, better known by his stage name Twista, is an American rapper from Chicago, Illinois. His 2004 album Kamikaze reached the top of the US Billboard 200 album chart, carl Mitchell grew up in the K-Town area of the North Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois and began rapping when he was 12. In 1992, Mitchell released his first album called Runnin Off at da Mouth under the name Tung Twista, in 1996 he teamed with Chicago producer The Legendary Traxster and Cwals Do or Die on the track Po Pimp produced by The Legendary Traxster, which became a hit single. This led to a Cwals label deal with Atlantic Records, which released Adrenaline Rush in 1997, Twista had by then dropped the Tung from his stage name. Adrenaline Rush became Twistas first charting album, as it peaked at #77 on the Billboard Hot 200, the album also spawned a Billboard Hot 100 hit in Get It Wet produced by The Legendary Traxster, which peaked at #96. In 1998 Twista teamed with other Chicago area rappers to form the Speedknot Mobstaz and they released their first album, Mobstability produced entirely by The Legendary Traxster, in 1998. Twista then formed his own Legit Ballin label, which released two albums, Legit Ballin in 1999 and Legit Ballin Vol.2, Street Scriptures in 2001. The label later released Respect The Game, Vol.3 in 2002 and Volume 4, in 2000, Twista collaborated with Ruff Ryders and Drag-On on the Ruff Ryders, Ryde or Die Vol.2 album, on the track Twisted Heat. Beginning in 2002, Twista began recording his album Kamikaze with rappers like Kanye West, Kamikaze came out in 2004 and debuted at the top spot of the American Billboard 200 album chart. Its first single Slow Jamz, featured West and Jamie Foxx, other singles included Overnight Celebrity and So Sexy, the album sold around two million copies. The remix of the song Jook Gal by Elephant Man featured Twista, the Kamikaze album and its singles gave Twista a new level of success and rose his profile significantly within the rap community. Twistas album The Day After was released in 2005 and it featured the hit singles Girl Tonite featuring Trey Songz, Hit the Floor featuring Pitbull, and So Lonely featuring Mariah Carey. His next album, Adrenaline Rush 2007 came out in 2007 and its singles were Give it Up featuring Pharrell and Creep Fast featuring T-Pain. This album sold poorly compared to Twistas earlier albums, Twista appeared on the single Hell No from Monicas album fall 2006 The Makings of Me. In 2008, Twista launched a new label called Get Money Gang Entertainment. In 2009, Twista appeared on the single Legendary with fellow Chicago rappers AK47 of Do or Die and Saurus, Twista released his eighth solo album entitled, The Perfect Storm on Nov 9,2010. The first single from the album, Make a Movie produced by The Legendary Traxster, two buzz singles were released, I Do produced by Traxster and Heat produced by fellow Chicago producers NO I. D. and The Legendary Traxster. The album features such as Waka Flocka Flame, Raekwon, Tia London, Diddy, Ray J
12.
Gold Digger (Kanye West song)
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Gold Digger is a song recorded by American rapper Kanye West featuring guest vocals by Jamie Foxx. Co-produced with Jon Brion, the song contains samples of Ray Charles I Got a Woman. The single broke a record for the most digital downloads in a week, selling over 80,000 and it was 2005s second-longest running number one on the Billboard Hot 100 at ten weeks, behind We Belong Together by Mariah Carey. At the 2006 Grammy Awards, Gold Digger was nominated for Record of the Year, the song lists at number 60 on Billboard magazines All Time Top 100 and at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Decade. Gold Digger was voted number 20 on VH1s 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop, as of January 2011, the song has sold over 3,000,000 copies in the United States. Upon its release, many surmised that West conceived Gold Digger after watching Jamie Foxxs Oscar-winning portrayal of Ray Charles in the biographical film Ray, however, he had actually constructed the beat of the song long before the movie was even developed. However, for unknown, Shawnna passed on using the song. Not wanting to let it go to waste, West decided to keep the beat for himself and add lyrics expressed from a males point-of-view. The second verse of Gold Digger was the first to be written, as West used to rap the verse in early 2004 while on tour promoting his debut album, the first verse was made later in the year while West was on Ushers Evolution Tour. Lastly, the third verse was taken from an unreleased song called Drop Dead Gorgeous. The idea of employing Jamie Foxx specifically to sing an interpolation of Ray Charles I Got a Woman in place of its initial sample did in fact arise from West seeing Ray with his friend John Mayer. Foxxs vocals were recorded over many takes, in one version he sang from start to finish, after recording another version, Foxx decided to re-record it once more as he felt it contained too many explicit lyrics. Once the track was finally in place, it was layered with additional instruments provided by American film score composer Jon Brion, by the end of their very first studio session together, the pair had completed the basic tracks for the final version of Gold Digger. Despite being a singer, Foxxs part only appears in the intro. Gold Digger contains samples of I Got a Woman by Ray Charles, towards the end, the song employs vintage 1970s synthesizers which emit a honking sound in cadence to Kanyes voice. West delivers a tongue-in-cheek lyrical narrative within Gold Digger in which he depicts the disastrous life of a man married to a woman who manipulates him for financial gain. However, another story arises within the verse, which illustrates a once destitute black male who earns a fortune and decides to leave a loyal. The songs music video was directed by Hype Williams, who also directed Wests previous video, the titles of the magazines on whose covers the women appear reflect the correlating verses in the song
