1.
Mary J. Blige
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Mary Jane Blige is an American singer, songwriter, model, record producer and actress. My Life, in particular, is considered among the greatest albums ever recorded according to Rolling Stone, Time, for her part in combining hip hop and soul in the early 1990s and its subsequent commercial success, Blige received the Legends Award at the World Music Awards. Blige made Time magazines Time 100 list of individuals around the world in 2007. As of 2013, Blige has sold more than 50 million albums and 25 million singles worldwide, Billboard ranked Blige as the most successful female R&B artist of the past 25 years. The magazine also lists her 2006 song Be Without You as the top R&B song of the 2000s, in 2011, VH1 ranked Blige as the 80th greatest artist of all time. Moreover, she is ranked number 100 on the list of 100 greatest singers of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, in 2012, VH1 ranked Blige at number 9 in The 100 Greatest Women in Music. Blige also earned high remarks for her work in film and she starred in the 2009 Tyler Perry box-office hit I Can Do Bad All By Myself and played a role in the film Rock of Ages. She received a Golden Globe Award nomination for her contribution to the film The Help. In partnership with the Home Shopping Network and Carols Daughter, Blige released her My Life perfume, the perfume broke HSN records by selling 65,000 bottles during its premiere. The scent went on to win two FiFi Awards, including the Fragrance Sales Breakthrough award, in 2017, she stars in the period drama film Mudbound directed by Dee Rees. Blige spent her years in Richmond Hill, Georgia, where she sang in a Pentecostal church. Blige later moved to Schlobohm Houses in Yonkers, New York, immediately north of New York City, Blige dropped out of high school in her junior year. Pursuing a musical career, Blige spent a period of time in a Yonkers band named Pride with band drummer Eddie DAprile. In early 1988, she recorded a cover of Anita Bakers Caught Up in the Rapture at a recording booth in the Galleria Mall in White Plains. Her mothers boyfriend at the later played the cassette for Jeff Redd. Redd sent it to the president and CEO of the label, Harrell met with Blige and in 1989 she was signed to the label, becoming the companys youngest and first female artist. After being signed to Uptown Records, Blige began working with record producer Puff Daddy and he became the executive producer and produced a majority of the album. Derived from Bliges past occupation as a 4-1-1 operator, it was also an indication by Blige of being the real deal, the music was described as revelatory on a frequent basis
2.
Ja Rule
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Jeffrey Bernard Atkins, better known by his stage name Ja Rule, is an American recording artist, singer, songwriter and actor from Queens, New York. Born in Hollis, Queens, he debuted in 1999 with Venni Vetti Vecci, from 1999 to 2005, Ja Rule had several hits that made the top 20 of the U. S. Kelly and Ashanti. During the 2000s, Ja Rule was signed to The Inc, Records, which was formerly known as Murder Inc. and was led by Irv Gotti. Due to his hits with his collaborators, Ja Rule has earned four Grammy nominations and he is also known for some well-publicized feuds with other rappers, in particular 50 Cent and Eminem. Atkins was born in the Queens borough of New York City and he was raised as a Jehovahs Witness by his mother, health care worker Debra Atkins, and grandparents. When Atkins was five, his mother gave birth to a baby named Kristen. Atkins attended Public School 134 in Hollis, a school he has described as having a black student body. He said he got into fights at the school because of his small size, so his mother transferred him to Middle School 172 in Glen Oaks. Atkins earned his GED in February 2012, Atkins began his rap career in 1993 with his hip hop group Cash Money Click. He told Curtis Waller of MTV News that his stage name Ja Rule came from a friend who addressed him by that name, other friends called him Ja. In 1995, he made his first appearance on Mic Geronimos Time to Build, which featured Jay-Z and DMX, in 1998 he had signed with Irv Gottis The Inc. Records which was an imprint label under Def Jam, and along with Amil and it was going to be a Ja Rule solo song, until Jay-Z heard the track. Allowing Ja to attend the successful Hard Knock Life Tour alongside Jay-Z, DMX, Method Man, Redman, Ja Rules debut album Venni Vetti Vecci was released in 1999, peaking at number 3 on the Billboard 200 with 184,000 copies sold in its first week. It eventually reached platinum status in the US due to the popularity of the hit single, Holla Holla, Ja Rule returned in 2000 with his new single Between Me and You, which featured Christina Milian. Between Me and You would end up getting Top 40 airplay, the second single Put It on Me featuring Vita and Lil Mo reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video for Put It on Me also topped the MTV Video Countdown for a week, the second album, Rule 3,36, was released on October 10,2000. It debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 with 276,000 copies in its first week, the album would be certified triple platinum by the RIAA. Ja Rule released his studio album, Pain Is Love on October 2,2001
3.
Contemporary R&B
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Contemporary R&B, also known as simply R&B, is a music genre that combines elements of rhythm and blues, soul, funk, pop, hip hop and dance. The genre features a record production style, drum machine-backed rhythms, an occasional saxophone-laced beat to give a jazz feel. Electronic influences are becoming a trend and the use of hip hop or dance-inspired beats are typical, although the roughness. Contemporary R&B vocalists are often known for their use of melisma, popularized by such as Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, Craig David, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston. That same year, Teddy Riley began producing R&B recordings that included hip hop influences and this combination of R&B style and hip hop rhythms was termed new jack swing and was applied to artists such as Bobby Brown, Keith Sweat, Al B. Guy, Jodeci and Bell Biv DeVoe, the style became less popular by the end of the 1990s, but later experienced a resurgence. In 1990 Mariah Carey released Vision of Love as her debut single and it was immensely popular peaking at number 1 in many worldwide charts including the Billboard Hot 100, and it propelled Mariahs carrier. The song is said to have popularized the use of melisma. During the mid-1990s, Whitney Houstons The Bodyguard, Original Soundtrack Album sold over 40 million copies becoming the best-selling soundtrack of all time. Janet Jacksons self-titled fifth studio album janet. which came after her historic multimillion-dollar contract with Virgin Records, sold over twenty million copies worldwide. Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey recorded several Billboard Hot 100 No.1 hits, including One Sweet Day, Carey also released a remix of her 1995 single Fantasy, with Ol Dirty Bastard as a feature, a collaboration format that was unheard of at this point. Carey, Boyz II Men and TLC released albums in 1994 and 1995—Daydream, II and CrazySexyCool. In the late 1990s, neo soul, which added 1970s soul influences to the hip hop soul blend, arose, led by such as DAngelo, Erykah Badu. Hill and Missy Elliott further blurred the line between R&B and hip hop by recording both styles, beginning in 1995, the Grammy Awards enacted the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, with II by Boyz II Men becoming the first recipient. The award was received by TLC for CrazySexyCool in 1996, Tony Rich for Words in 1997, Erykah Badu for Baduizm in 1998. At the end of 1999, Billboard magazine ranked Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson as the first, simultaneously, in the second half of the 1990s, The Neptunes and Timbaland set influential precedence on contemporary R&B and hip hop music. R&B acts such as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Usher, in 2001, Alicia Keys released Fallin as her debut single. It peaking at one on the Billboard Hot 100, Mainstream Top 40
4.
MCA Records
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MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc. which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group, of which MCA Records was still part. MCAs country division, MCA Nashville, is an active imprint of Universal Music Group Nashville. MCA was forced to exit the talent agency business in order to complete the merger, as American Decca owned Universal Pictures, MCA assumed full ownership of Universal and made it into the top film studio in town, producing hit after hit. In 1966, MCA formed Uni Records and in 1967 purchased Kapp Records which was placed under Uni Records management. In 1937, the owner of Decca, E. R. Lewis, chose to split off the U. K. Decca company from the U. S. company, companies if the emerging hostilities of Nazi Germany should lead to war – correctly foreseeing World War II. Lewis sold the remainder of his U. S. Decca holdings when war did break out, MCAs U. S. -based Decca Records kept the rights to the Decca name in North and South America and parts of Asia including Japan. U. K. Decca owned the rights to the Decca name in the rest of the world, after the war, British Decca formed a new U. S. subsidiary, London Records. During this time U. S. Decca issued records outside North America on the Brunswick, in 1967, Brunswick and Coral were replaced by the MCA label to release U. S. Decca and Kapp label material outside North America. Initial activity as MCA Records was based in London and MCA Records UK was formally launched on February 16,1968. Among the early artists on the MCA label, around 1971, were groups Wishbone Ash, Osibisa, Stackridge and Budgie, early MCA releases were distributed by U. K. Decca but it moved to EMI in 1974. In 1979, distribution moved to CBS, while the last releases in the 1980s were self-distributed, as the U. S. division of MCA Records was not established until 1972, the earliest U. K. MCA Records material was released in the U. S. on either Kapp or Decca, Uni label material was issued on the Uni label worldwide. In 1970, MCA reorganized its Canadian record company Compo Company Ltd. into MCA Records, in April 1970, former Warner Bros. Records president Mike Maitland joined MCA and initially served as Deccas general manager. Maitland was unsuccessful in his attempt to consolidate Warner Bros. Records with co-owned Atlantic Records which led to his departure from Warner, the three labels maintained their identities for a short time but were retired in favor of the MCA label in 1973. Drift Away by Dobie Gray became the final Decca pop label release in the U. S in 1973. Beginning the same year the catalogs of Decca, Uni and Kapp were reissued in the U. S. on the MCA label under the supervision of veteran Decca producer Milt Gabler. The first MCA Records release in the U. S. was former Uni artist Elton Johns Crocodile Rock single in 1972, MCA label used a black with curved rainbow design until the late 1970s. This design was inspired by the U. S. Decca label of the 1960s
5.
TLC (group)
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TLC is an American girl group whose original line-up consisted of Tionne T-Boz Watkins, Lisa Left Eye Lopes and Rozonda Chilli Thomas. Formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1991, the group was successful during the 1990s and early 2000s in spite of numerous spats with the law, each other. They scored nine hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including four number-one singles Creep, Waterfalls, No Scrubs. TLC also became the first R&B group in history to receive Million certification from the Recording Industry Association of Japan for FanMail, having sold over 65 million records worldwide, TLC is the best-selling American girl group and second worldwide to the English group Spice Girls. VH1 ranked TLC as the greatest female group, placing them at number 12 on the list of 100 Greatest Women in Music, Billboard magazine ranked TLC as one of the greatest musical trios, as well as the seventh most successful act of the 1990s. The groups accolades include five career Grammy Awards, five MTV Video Music Awards, twenty years after their debut, TLC was honored with Outstanding Contribution to Music at the 17th MOBO Awards and Legend Award at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards Japan. All three members of TLC are considered irreplaceable by the members, and each of them have contributed equally to the group. Following Lopes death in 2002, instead of replacing her, the members chose to carry on as a duo. In 2017, they are set to release their album as TLC. Jones put out a call for two girls to join her in this trio. Calling the group 2nd Nature, Jones, Watkins, and Lopes began working with producers Jermaine Dupri, impressed by the girls, Reid renamed the group TLC-Skee, with TLC being an Initialism for the names Tionne, Lisa, and Crystal. Reid arranged an audition for them with local record label LaFace Records, run by Kenneth Babyface Edmonds and Reids then-husband, Antonio Reid saw potential in Watkins and Lopes as performers, but felt that Jones should be replaced. According to Jones, things began to unravel for her after Pebbles denied the group the opportunity to take home the contracts that Pebbitone had drafted, Jones did not want to sign before having the contract reviewed by others and perhaps a lawyer. In contrast, Watkins recollection of Jones departure is that both she and Lopes asked Jones to leave the group before their contracts were negotiated. On February 28,1991, Watkins and Lopes signed production, management, as they looked for a replacement for Jones, the two-member TLC-Skee made its first recorded appearance on a track for LaFace act Damian Dames self-titled 1991 LP. Pebbles found the third member in Rozonda Thomas, one of Damian Dames part-time backup dancers, Thomas was signed to the act in April 1991, at about which time the groups name was shortened to TLC. To maintain TLCs name as an acronym for the names, Watkins became T-Boz, Lopes became Left-Eye. The girls were signed to LaFace in May through the production deal with Pebbitone
6.
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
7.
Dance Club Songs
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The Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U. S. dance clubs. It is compiled by Billboard exclusively from playlists submitted by nightclub disc jockeys who must apply, the current number-one song on the Dance Club Songs chart for the issue dated April 15,2017, is Lick Me Up by Tony Moran and Dani Toro featuring Zhana Roiya. Dance Club Songs has undergone several incarnations since its inception in 1974, originally a top-ten list of tracks that garnered the largest audience response in New York City discothèques, the chart began on October 26,1974 under the title Disco Action. The chart went on to feature playlists from various cities around the country from week to week, Billboard continued to run regional and city-specific charts throughout 1975 and 1976 until the issue dated August 28,1976, when a thirty-position National Disco Action Top 30 premiered. During the first half of the 1980s the chart maintained eighty slots until March 16,1985 when the Disco charts were splintered and renamed, two charts appeared, Hot Dance/Disco, which ranked club play, and Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales, which ranked 12-inch single sales. Only Hot Dance Club Songs still exists today and these stations are also a part of the electronically monitored panel that encompasses the Hot 100. Radio airplay is not limited to that counted on the Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, during this time, Billboard rival publication Record World was the first to compile a dance chart which incorporated club play on a national level. Noted Billboard statistician Joel Whitburn has since adopted Record Worlds chart data from the weeks between March 29,1975 and August 21,1976 into Billboards club play history. For the sake of continuity, Record Worlds national chart is incorporated into both Whitburns Dance/Disco publication as well as the 1975 and 1976 number-ones lists, with the issue dated August 28,1976, Billboard premiered its own national chart and their data is used from this date forward. For the full list of all 100 All Time Top Dance Club Artists, both Enrique Iglesias and Dave Aude are tied with 14 number-ones on the chart, the most among male artists. Iglesias, however, is the male vocalist to accomplish this feat, while Aude is the only producer to achieve this milestone. Four acts have attained thirteen number-one songs, Whitney Houston, Kylie Minogue, Yoko Ono, Kylie Minogue became the first act to have two songs in the top three on March 5,2011. Her song Better than Today was number-one while Higher, a song by Taio Cruz on which Minogue features, was number three, the first 12-inch single made commercially available to the public was Ten Percent by Double Exposure in 1976. The first number one on Billboards Disco Action chart was Never Can Say Goodbye by Gloria Gaynor in 1974, the first number one on Billboards National Disco Action Top 30 was You Should Be Dancing by the Bee Gees in 1976. Beginning with the February 23,1991 issue, the dance chart became song specific, in all scenarios this was due to the tracks being included in film soundtrack albums. In 1978, four tracks from Thank God Its Friday, in 1980, madonna holds the record for the most chart hits, the most top-twenty hits, the most top-ten hits and the most total weeks at number one. The Trammps are the act to replace themselves at number one. The longest running number-ones on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart are Bad Luck by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes2 in 1975, both entries spent eleven weeks in the top spot
8.
Raekwon
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Corey Woods, better known by the stage name Raekwon the Chef, is an American rapper and a member of the Wu-Tang Clan. He is the founder of his own label ICEH20 Records, Raekwon has been cited as a pioneer of Mafioso rap. In 2007, the editors of About. com placed him on their list of the Top 50 MCs of Our Time, the Miami New Times described Raekwons music as being street epics that are straightforward yet linguistically rich universes not unlike a gangsta Iliad. Corey Woods joined the Wu-Tang Clan, a hip hop group based in the Staten Island borough of New York City. He performed under the stage name Raekwon the Chef as well as the aliases Shallah Raekwon, Shallah Diamond, Wu-Tang Clan debuted one year later with Enter the Wu-Tang,36 Chambers. Singles from the album included Protect Ya Neck and C. R. E. A. M, the latter of which reached #8 on the Billboard rap chart. Wu-Tang Forever followed in 1997 and was certified four times platinum by the RIAA, alongside other solo albums by its members, Wu-Tang continued recording as a group, releasing The W in 2000, Iron Flag in 2001, and 8 Diagrams in 2007. In 1994, Raekwon signed a deal with Loud Records. His first solo LP, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. was released in 1995 to rave reviews, Wu-Tang member Ghostface Killah appeared on over half of the albums tracks, with Wu-Tang member RZA producing the album in its entirety. After Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Raekwon appeared on a track by the R&B group Allure from the groups self-titled debut in 1997. He also appeared on Fat Joes song John Blaze alongside Nas, Jadakiss, Raekwons next effort, Immobilarity, came out in 1999 to mixed reviews, which were mainly attributed to the absence of RZA and Ghostface Killah. The Lex Diamond Story followed in 2003 on Universal Records, to mixed reviews as well, Raekwon later voiced his distaste for the albums lack of promotion and budget and vowed that future releases would not suffer the same fate. Raekwon planned to release the sequel to his debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. Pt. II in 2007 through Aftermath Entertainment, the album was informally executively produced by Busta Rhymes, whom Raekwon cited as getting him in the Cuban Linx mindset, and RZA, with RZA handling most of the production. Dr. Dre, Scram Jones, and J Dilla were other producers that were announced early on as working on the album, RZA explained the collaboration between him and Dr. Dre as yin and yang when it came to their styles. Raekwon and EMI both confirmed at one point that Only Built For Cuban Linx, pt. II would be released in the summer of 2009 with EMI serving as the distribution label for the album, which was officially released on Raekwons ICEH2O label. However, Raekwon and EMI later announced that the album would be pushed back to September 8,2009 due to clearance issues. On September 8,2009, Only Built For Cuban Linx, pt. II was released after many delays
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.
Jadakiss
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Jason Phillips, better known as Jadakiss, is an American rapper. He is a member of the group The LOX and the hip hop collective Ruff Ryders, Jadakiss is one of the three owners of the imprint known as D-Block Records. In early 2007, Jadakiss signed to Roc-a-Fella Records and Def Jam Records, Jadakiss has also released four studio albums, with the most recent being Top 5 Dead or Alive on November 20,2015. By age 16, Jadakiss was a freestyle rapper and he and some of his friends were given the opportunity to compete in the Jack the Rapper Competition in Florida, where Jadakiss had been noticed for his battle rap ability. He met Dee and Wah of the Ruff Ryders, and began hanging out, Phillips founded the rap group The Warlocks in 1994 with friends, Sheek Louch and Styles P. They later signed to Bad Boy Entertainment, where it was suggested that change their name simply to The LOX. They made their first appearance on The Main Sources 1994 LP Fuck What You Think on the track Set it Off, the group, especially Jadakiss, developed a close relationship with The Notorious B. I. G. during which time Jadakiss was taken under Biggies wing. The LOXs first hit was the tribute to The Notorious B. I. G. called Well Always Love Big Poppa in 1997, in 1998, the LOX released Money, Power & Respect. Though the record was successful, eventually going Platinum, The LOX grew unhappy with Bad Boy Records and Puffys glossy, following this album, they left the label to sign with Ruff Ryders Entertainment. Jadakisss debut album, Kiss Tha Game Goodbye, was released in August 2001 on the Ruff Ryders/Interscope label. The album featured guests and producers such as DJ Premier, The Alchemist, DMX, Eve, Snoop Dogg and Swizz Beatz. Jadakiss has acknowledged the criticism as, generally speaking, valid, the album produced three singles, We Gonna Make It featuring Styles P, Knock Yourself Out and Put Ya Hands Up. Jadakiss is mentioned in Eminems 2002 song Till I Collapse as one of the best rappers in the industry, Jadakisss second album, Kiss of Death, was released in June 2004. His song Why. became one of the years biggest hits, spawning a remix featuring Styles P, Common, Nas, why. remains Jadas biggest hit, peaking at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Another single from the record, U Make Me Wanna, featured Mariah Carey and was a more commercially driven love song. Kiss of Death did not reflect the popularity of its lead single, in late 2007, Jadakiss signed to Jay-Zs Roc-A-Fella Records, a move Jay had been trying to arrange for a long time. In 2009, Jadakiss released his official album, The Last Kiss. The first single is By My Side, featuring Ne-Yo, the second official single is Cant Stop Me
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