1.
Step Up 2: The Streets (soundtrack)
–
Step Up 2, The Streets is the film soundtrack album from the motion picture Step Up 2, The Streets, the sequel to the 2006 American dance film Step Up from Touchstone Pictures. It was released on February 5,2008, by Atlantic Records, the album debuted at number thirteen on the US Billboard 200, and peaked at number five two weeks later. It also reached number one on the US Top Soundtracks chart, Step Up 2, The Streets featured the US Billboard Hot 100 number one hit single Low, by rapper Flo Rida featuring hip-hop and R&B artist T-Pain, which helped the soundtracks commercial performance. Rappers Missy Elliott and Plies both contributed with two tracks to the album, American R&B singers Cassie, Trey Songz, the group Cherish and Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias were also featured in the soundtrack. If you liked the movie youll like the soundtrack, while reviewing the film for ComingSoon. net, Brad Brevet stated the soundtrack is filled with music far better than what most dance films have to offer. Adam Tyner of DVD Talk said the Step Up 2 the Streets soundtrack is all about the music, with hip-hop beats flooding every speaker and backed by a monstrous, room-rattling low-frequency kick. People picked it as soundtrack of the week on their issue dated March 3,2008, notes Other songs such as Bounce, performed by Timbaland featuring Dr. Credits adapted from AllMusic
2.
Jon M. Chu
–
Chu is an alumnus of the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television. Chu was born in Palo Alto, California, and grew up in nearby Los Altos and his father, Lawrence Chu, is a well-known chef, and his parents own Chef Chus, a popular restaurant in Los Altos. He attended Pinewood School from kindergarten through 12th grade, after making his student short, When the Kids Are Away, Chu was signed to William Morris Agency and attached to several high-profile projects. Chu was hired by Sony Pictures to direct their feature Bye Bye Birdie, Sony recently got back into business with Chu to direct their updated version of The Great Gatsby, which did not pan out, but, after being purchased by Warner Bros. Pictures with Baz Luhrmann attached, developed into the 2013 film and he is in a dance crew called AC/DC or Adam/Chu Dance crew. Chu is currently directing the online series The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers, in an interview, Chu addressed a question he is often asked, Why do all of your films have dance. He responded, I dont know why, but theres something about the dancers that motivate me the most. I dont know if its just dance, but I do think that the dancers are amazing artists, and every time I meet a new dancer, that something in my brain. When I feel that creativity burst, I go with it, freaked Once a Cop Silent Beats When the Kids Are Away Step Up 2, The Streets Step Up 3D The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers Justin Bieber, Never Say Never Step Up, Revolution G. I. Joe, Retaliation Justin Biebers Believe Step Up, All In Jem and the Holograms Now You See Me 2 Jon M. Chu at the Internet Movie Database Jon M. Chu on Facebook Jon M. Chu on Twitter
3.
Adam Shankman
–
Adam Michael Shankman is an American film director, producer, dancer, author, actor, and choreographer. He was a judge on the television program So You Think You Can Dance on seasons 3-10 and he began his professional career in musical theater, and was a dancer in music videos for Paula Abdul and Janet Jackson. His company, Offspring Entertainment, produces film and television for various studios, Shankman is also currently co-writing Young Adult novels for Simon & Schuster imprint, Atheneum Books for Young Readers. Shankman was born in Los Angeles, to an upper-middle-class family and he is the son of Phyllis, a licensed practitioner in Gestalt therapy, and Ned Shankman, an entertainment lawyer and manager for such acts as Barry White, the American band X, and Sister Sledge. His sister Jennifer, was born when Shankman was four years-old and he attended Palisades High School before attending Juilliard School. After graduating from Palisades High School Shankman was a performing intern, having been accepted for both dancing and acting at Juilliard, he chose dance as his major without having any previous formal training. He dropped out of college to dance in musical theater and at nineteen he was cast in his first professional show, West Side Story, Shankman moved back to Los Angeles and started dancing in music videos. He was a dancer in Janet Jacksons Alright video, as well as in a MC Skat Kat video with Paula Abdul, Shankman broke into professional choreography in a 1989 music video for rapper MC Shan with director Julien Temple. When the hired choreographer fell through, Shankman lied and said that he had done choreography for Janet Jackson and he was hired on the spot without his story being verified. As a choreographer, he worked with acts Tony, the Time, Whitney Houston, Aaron Neville and more. In 1996 he won a Bob Fosse Award for Best Choreography In a Commercial, on Television, he was a go-to choreographer on Friends and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Shankman served as a choreographer and dance consultant on dozens of movies including Addams Family Values, Catch Me If You Can, George of the Jungle and Boogie Nights. In 1998 Shankman wrote and directed a film called Cosmos Tale. Following the short, his sister, Jennifer Gibgot, asked him to read a script that she had set up with Fine Line Features. He liked the script and this led to a meeting with execs and he was hired for the job of director ten minutes into the meeting. The movie eventually went to Columbia Pictures and was a box office success, hes directed several shorts for Funny or Die, including Prop 8, The Musical starring Jack Black and written by composer Marc Shaiman. According to TIME Magazine, Prop 8 — The Musical was Marc Shaimans attempt to pick apart the anti-gay marriage lobbys logic, lending support to the cause were actors Jack Black, John C. Reilly, Maya Rudolph, Craig Robinson, Neil Patrick Harris, in 2012, Shankman directed a duel campaign to attract young voters for Rock the Vote and Funny or Die
4.
Briana Evigan
–
Briana Barbara-Jane Evigan is an American actress and dancer. She is best known for her roles as Andie West in the Step Up series and she started dancing at the age of 9 and is still dancing as part of her career today. Evigan has been noted as a Scream Queen for starring in horror and thriller films, such as Sorority Row, Burning Bright, Mothers Day, The Devils Carnival, its sequel. Stash House, Mine Games, and the season of From Dusk Till Dawn. Evigan was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Pamela C, serpe, a dancer, model, and actress, and actor Greg Evigan. She has Polish and Italian heritage and she is the youngest of three siblings, with brother Jason and sister Vanessa Lee. She has studied dance since she was nine and she is one of the singers and plays keyboards in the group Moorish Idol. She also undertook a speech and communication degree at Los Angeles Valley College and she currently lives in Los Angeles, California, where she usually has Fanchats with fans through UStream, and has her own YouTube channel, in which she posts Work out videos. A professional dancer, Evigan has appeared in videos for Linkin Park, Flo Rida, T-Pain. She has also had roles in television series and films such as Bottoms Up, Something Sweet. In 2008, she won the role of Andie West in the sequel to the 2006 dance drama Step Up, Step Up 2. Filming took place in late 2007 in Baltimore and was released February 14,2008, the film, which met with negative reviews with Rotten Tomatoes, achieved box office success earning a worldwide gross of $148,424,320. Both Evigan and co-star Robert Hoffman earned the Best Kiss Award at the 2008 MTV Movie Awards, in 2009, S. Darko, a sequel to the 2001 cult-hit horror Donnie Darko, was released. Evigan played Samantha Darkos best friend, Corey, the film stars James Lafferty and Ed Westwick. A theatrical release was scrapped and was released Straight-to-DVD on May 12,2009, unlike Donnie Darko, the film received negative reviews. In August 2008, Summit Entertainment announced Evigan has signed on to portray the central character Cassidy Tappan in the remake of the horror film Sorority Row. The screenplay was written by Good Luck Chuck writer Josh Stolberg, the film was budgeted at $12,500,000. Evigan stars alongside Audrina Patridge, Rumer Willis and Jamie Chung, Sorority Row was released on September 11,2009 and debuted at No.6 at the box office and earned worldwide $26,735,797
5.
Robert Hoffman (actor)
–
Robert James Hoffman III is an American actor, dancer, and choreographer. Robert James Hoffman III was born in Gainesville, Florida, the son of Charlotte and Robert Hoffman II and he has one younger brother, Chris, and two younger sisters, Ashley and Lauren. He attended Bob Jones High School and he discovered his passion for dancing after seeing Michael Jacksons Thriller. He briefly attended the Alabama School of Fine Arts, in 2004, Hoffman starred in the film You Got Served as Max, a lead dancer in the antagonists crew. He also starred in Nick Cannons sketch comedy television series Wild n Out, in 2006, he co-starred alongside Amanda Bynes in the film Shes the Man. In 2007, Hoffman played the role of Bluto in the horror film Shrooms, in 2008, he starred in the film Step Up 2, The Streets as Chase Collins, a talented dancer at the Maryland School of the Arts. In 2009, he guest starred in the ABC Family show Greek as Evan Chambers older brother, on June 1,2008, Step Up 2, The Streets earned Hoffman and co-star Briana Evigan an MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss. In 2008, he and Evigan starred in Enrique Iglesiass music video for his single Push, Hoffman appeared in the 2009 film Aliens in the Attic as Ricky. In 2010, Hoffman played the role of Chad Bower in the thriller film Burning Palms. Hoffman featured as Garth in the comedy film BoyBand. He played the role of Tyler Dance Machine Jones in the movie Take Me Home Tonight and he was also featured in Garfunkel and Oatess music video for their song Present Face. In late January 2012, Hoffman landed a role in the fourth season of The CWs teen drama series 90210 as Caleb Walsh. In 2014, Hoffman starred as Kevin Shepherd in the indie drama Lap Dance alongside Briana Evigan, Ali Cobrin, Hoffman guest starred as Thad Callahan in the TV show The Night Shift. In 2016, he had a role in the comedy film Amateur Night directed by Lisa Addario, official website Robert Hoffman at the Internet Movie Database The Huntsville Times interview
6.
Adam G. Sevani
–
Adam G. Sevani is an American actor and dancer, known for playing Robert Alexander III in Step Up. Sevani is of Armenian and Italian descent and his older brother, V Sevani, was a member of the Boy Band NLT. Sevani was raised in Los Angeles, California and started dancing from an age at the Synthesis Dance Center. In February 2008, Sevani appeared in the Touchstone Pictures dance drama film Step Up 2, The Streets, the film centered on a group of students who form a dance troupe and battle on the streets. Sevanis performance as Robert Moose Alexander III was praised by critics, such as The New York Times, the film, which received generally mixed reviews, went on to gross over $150 million worldwide. For his role in the film, Sevani received the Best Scene Stealer award at the 2008 Young Hollywood Awards, in May 2009 Sevani was confirmed to reprise the role of Moose in the planned third installment of the Step Up trilogy. Filming took place in New York City on a $30 million budget, the film, Step Up 3D, centers on Moose and his best friend Camille Alyson Stoner moving to New York to start University until Sevanis character gets mixed up in the underground dance scene. The film was released in August 2010 to generally mixed reviews from critics, as of August 2012, the film is the highest grossing installment of the trilogy, with over $159 million worldwide. In July 2012, Sevani made a appearance in the trilogys fourth installment, Step Up. In 2014, Sevani once again reprised his role as Moose in the installment of the Step Up film series, Step Up. In August 2010, Sevani was confirmed to star in the American remake of the 2008 French film LOL, alongside Miley Cyrus, Demi Moore, the film centers on Cyruss character finishing her final year of high school. In May 2012, the received a limited US release. Sevani has appeared in videos such as, Mases Breathe, Stretch, Shake, Will Smiths Switch, T-Pains Church. He also did the choreography for NLTs music video for Karma and he is credited as a back-up dancer for Kevin Federlines performance on the Teen Choice Awards in 2006. Adam also formed a crew with Jon Chu and several California area dancers with celebrity cameos in 2008 known as the AC/DC. The crew had a highly publicized YouTube dance battle with Miley Cyrus, the battle ended with a final dance off between the two crews at the 2008 Teen Choice Awards. In November 2008, he was featured in a video to Michael Jacksons 26th Anniversary Thriller video for Halloween. Adam G. Sevani at the Internet Movie Database Adam G. Sevani at AllMovie
7.
Touchstone Pictures
–
Touchstone Pictures is an American film distribution label of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Previously, Touchstone operated as an film production banner of Walt Disney Studios. Touchstone Pictures merely serves as a brand, not a business operation. In 2009, Disney entered into a 5-year, 30-picture distribution deal with DreamWorks Pictures by which DreamWorks productions would be released through the Touchstone banner, Touchstone then distributed DreamWorks films from 2011 to 2016. Due to increased public assumption that Disney films were aimed at children and families, in late 1979, Disney Productions released The Black Hole, a science-fiction movie that was the studios first production to receive a PG rating. Over the next few years, Disney experimented with more PG-rated fare, tron was considered a potential Star Wars-level success film by the film division. A loss of $33 million was registered by the division in 1983 with the majority resulting from Something Wicked This Way Comes. Never Cry Wolf, a 1983 PG release that featured male nudity did well as the studio downplayed the films association with the Disney brand. Touchstone Films was started by then-Disney CEO Ron W. Miller on February 15,1984 as a label for their PG films with an expected 3 to 4 movies released under the label. Touchstones first film was Splash, a hit for grossing $68 million at the domestic box office was released that year. Incoming Disney CEO Michael Eisner and film chief Jeffrey Katzenberg considered renaming the label to Hollywood Pictures, following in 1986, Down and Out in Beverly Hills was another early success for Touchstone and is noted as Disneys first R-rated film. Allowing the momentum to increase with films with Ruthless People, Outrageous Fortune, Tin Men. In April 1985, Touchstone Films were licensed to Showtime/The Movie Channel for five years starting in 1986, Touchstone Films was renamed Touchstone Pictures after the film Ruthless People in 1986. With the Touchstone movies, Disney moved to the top of box office receipts beating out all the major film studios by 1988. In April 1988, Touchstone became a unit of Walt Disney Pictures with newly appointed president Ricardo Mestres, on October 23,1990, The Walt Disney Company formed Touchwood Pacific Partners I to supplant the Silver Screen Partnership series as their movie studios primary funding source. Mestres was appointed president of Hollywood, in 2006, Disney limited Touchstones output to 2 or 3 films in favor of Walt Disney Pictures titles due to an increase in film industry costs. Two Touchstone co-productions flopped at the box office minimized by its co-producers financial contributions to the movies, Disney revived Touchstone in 2009 to serve as a distribution label for DreamWorks Studios films. DreamWorks was expected to allow Disney to release additional family fare that could be used at its parks and on its channels, Disney has been financing DreamWorks productions with an $90 million more available under its agreement if DreamWorks cannot get additional equity funding
8.
Summit Entertainment
–
Summit Entertainment LLC is an American film production and distribution company. It is owned by Lionsgate and is headquartered in Santa Monica, Summit Entertainment was founded in 1991 by film producers Bernd Eichinger, Arnon Milchan, and Andrew G. Vajna, to handle film sales in foreign countries. Summit later expanded and was launched in 1993 by Patrick Wachsberger, Bob Hayward and David Garrett under the name Summit Entertainment LP as a production, distribution, by 1995 they were producing and co-financing films, and by 1997 they started fully financing films. Among the companys early successes was American Pie, which Summit distributed outside of English-speaking territories, in 2007, it became an independent film production company, Summit Entertainment, with the addition of Rob Friedman, a former executive at Paramount Pictures. Summit Entertainments films are distributed theatrically and on home video in Spain. In the spring of 2009, Summit released Knowing, the second movie to open #1 at the box office. In June 2010 Summit released the film of the Twilight series, The Twilight Saga. It broke a midnight screening record of over $30 million and set a one-day Wednesday record of $68.5 million and it became the first movie in the series to cross the $300 million mark domestically. In 2008, Summit Entertainment ranked in eighth place among the studios, with a gross of $226.5 million, in 2009, Summit ranked 7th among studios with a gross of $482.5 million. In September 2008, merger talks between Summit Entertainment and Lionsgate were the subject of speculation, but no deal was finalized at that time. On January 13,2012, Lionsgate acquired Summit Entertainment for $412.5 million, list of Summit Entertainment films Lionsgate Smith v. Summit Entertainment LLC Official website Summit Entertainment at the Internet Movie Database Reuters Story
9.
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
–
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is an American film distributor owned by The Walt Disney Company. The division took on its current name in late 2007, which before that had been Buena Vista Pictures Distribution since 1987, before 1953, Walt Disneys productions were distributed by Columbia Pictures, United Artists and RKO Radio Pictures. The name Buena Vista came from the street in Burbank, California, Buena Vistas first release was the Academy Award–winning live-action feature The Living Desert on November 10,1953 along with Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom, Buena Vistas first animated release. Notable subsequent releases include the film, Yang Kwei Fei, released in US theaters in September 1956, The Missouri Traveler in March 1958. In April 1960, the company dropped Film from its name, in 1961, Disney incorporated Buena Vista International, distributing its first PG rated film, Take Down, in January 1979. The low-budget movie was not produced by the Disney studios and was acquired from an independent studio, in July 1987, Buena Vista changed its name to Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. Late in the 1980s, Disney purchased a stake in one of Pacific Theatres chain leading to Disneys Buena Vista Theaters and Pacific to renovate the El Capitan Theatre. The Crest was finished first while El Capitan opened with the premiere of The Rocketeer film on June 19,1991, the corporation purchased a 12. 8% share in Cinergi with its initial public offering in 1994. Soon, BVPD signed a 25 picture distribution deal with Cinergi, the Gaumont Film Company and Walt Disney formed Gaumont Buena Vista International, their joint venture French distribution company, in 1993. In August 1996, Disney and Tokuma Shoten Publishing agreed that Disney would distribute internationally Studio Ghibli animated films, in September 1996, following Disneys acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. was merged into ABC, Inc. the parent company of that group. In July 1998, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution purchased the Hollywood Masonic Temple building to continue using it as a promotional venue, by 1997, BVPDs share in Cinergi dropped to 5%.4 million and other loans. In 2002, Disney signed a four animated film deal with Vanguard Animation, however, since 2004, BVI and Gaumont dissolved their French distribution joint venture, Gaumont Buena Vista International. Buena Vista International agreed to a deal with MegaStar Joint Venture Company Limited in April 2006 for the Vietnam market. In April 2007, Disney discontinued using the Buena Vista brand in its distribution branding, the distribution deal ended in 2016, after DreamWorks and Disney decided to not renew their agreement in December 2015, with Universal replacing Disney as DreamWorks distributor. By the end of the deal, Disney had distributed 14 of DreamWorks original 30-picture agreement, Disney took complete ownership of the DreamWorks II film library in exchange for loans made to that company. In addition, Disney is the first of three studios that have released at least two billion-dollar films in the same year. Furthermore, Disney is the studio that has achieved this four times, in 2010,2013,2015, and 2016—that latter year of which included four $1 billion releases. Four of the top five highest-grossing animated films have been released by Disney, in addition, four of the top-five opening weekends were Disney releases
10.
Step Up (film)
–
Step Up is a 2006 American romantic dance film directed by Anne Fletcher starring Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan Tatum. Realizing that they only have one chance, they work together. The film is the first installment in the Step Up series and was followed by four sequels, Step Up 2, The Streets, Step Up 3D, Step Up Revolution and Step Up, All In. Following a party, brother Mac and Skinny Carter and their best friend Tyler Gage, break into the Maryland School of Arts and trash the schools theatre, when a security guard appears, Tyler helps the two escape, accepting full blame for the vandalism himself. He is sentenced to 200 hours of community service, which is to be served at the school, when Noras dance partner, Andrew, sprains an ankle, Nora finds herself unexpectedly without a partner for her routine. Auditioning some sophomore students to him, she decides that none meet her expectations. Tyler offers to help, but Nora refuses, after demonstrating that he can handle the routine however, Nora reconsiders and convinces Director Gordon to allow Tyler to rehearse with her. During their initial practice session, Tyler is antagonistic towards Nora as well as her boyfriend, Brett, as they continue to rehearse, Nora and Tyler grow closer, each teaching the other about their respective styles of dance. Tyler also befriends a musician at the school named Miles, who has a crush on Noras friend and she confesses to Tyler that she had always imagined it as an ensemble dance, rather than a duet. Tyler becomes inspired to help her come true and begins recruiting younger dancers from the school to perform in her number. Brett signs a deal with a company, but in doing so, betrays his friend, Miles. Disgusted by his betrayal, Nora breaks up with Brett, meanwhile, Tyler continues to attempt a balance between his new goals, his new friends, and nurturing a troubled relationship with his old ones. Tyler asks Director Gordon if she let him attend the school. Upon hearing this from Tyler, Nora suggests that the showcase could also be used as his entrance audition, after dancing together at a club where Lucy and Miles perform, Nora and Tyler finally move forward with a romantic relationship. Rehearsals continue as normal, until Andrew returns seemingly healed from his injury, Tyler feels that he is no longer needed in the routine, and angrily accuses Nora of treating him the same way her ex-boyfriend treated Miles. He leaves the group and returns to work, his initial community service at the school. Whilst in one of their sessions, Andrew falls over and, realizing he can not cope with the dance, resigns himself from the routine. Nora transforms the choreography into a solo piece, later, Skinny is fatally shot after stealing a car, making Mac and Tyler realize that they need to make better choices in their lives
11.
Dave Scott (choreographer)
–
Dave Scott is an award-winning hip-hop dance teacher, choreographer, and talent developer. He gained widespread success from his choreography in movies, primarily the 2004 dance film You Got Served and he is a resident choreographer on So You Think You Can Dance and The PULSE on Tour dance convention. Scott was born and raised in Compton, California and he is 64 and has never taken any dance classes or had any formal training. He started dancing as a hobby when he was 15 and he learned how to dance from watching musicals, b-boy movies, and music videos, namely those of Michael Jackson whom he cites as one of his influences. He acknowledges hip-hop dance pioneers Stefan Mr. Wiggles Clemente and Timothy Popin Pete Solomon as influences as well, as a teenager, he further developed his skills by forming his own b-boy crew and battling other crews in his neighborhood. After graduating high school, Scott attended Weber State University on a scholarship where he earned an associates degree in business. He got his first professional dance job while in Utah on accident when he was asked to replace a dancer on a tour after being spotted dancing in a club. He later returned to California and started his career by dancing on tours, from tours and music videos, he built relationships in the dance community and moved into teaching classes and doing choreography for film and television. He describes his style as aggressive, melodic, and energetic. He has worked with such as Ginuwine, B2K, Tyrese, Brian McKnight, Jon B, IMX, rapper Bow Wow. He is the choreographer and co-creator of teen R&B group Mindless Behavior, in 2012, he co-choreographed the Ubisoft video game The Hip Hop Dance Experience with Laurieann Gibson and b-boy David Kid David Shreibman. As of May 2013, he is a mentor/judge on Danceamatic. com, in 2001, Scott formed the teen R&B group B2K and served as their choreographer and stylist. With the group he went on to choreograph the movie You Got Served which featured all four singers in primary roles, in 2004, he won an American Choreography Award for Best Choreography in a Feature Film. Following the success of the movie, he released an instructional dance DVD, You Got Served, in addition to You Got Served, he co-choreographed Step Up 2, The Streets with Jamal Sims and Nadine Hi Hat Ruffin. In 2008, he won a Fred and Adele Astaire Award for Best Choreography in Film, Scott also choreographed the movies Fresh, Stomp the Yard, Dance Flick, House Party 4, and Coach Carter. In 2010, Scott appeared in the independent documentary MOVE — a film about how people in the industry were able to go from dancing as a hobby to dancing as a career. He choreographed the 2013 film Battle of the Year, The Dream Team which is based on the 2007 documentary Planet B-Boy, in 2003, he was a guest choreographer on The Wade Robson Project. He was also a guest choreographer on Step It Up and Dance, since season three he has been a recurring hip-hop choreographer on the show So You Think You Can Dance
12.
Baltimore
–
Baltimore is the largest city in the U. S. state of Maryland, and the 29th-most populous city in the country. It was established by the Constitution of Maryland and is not part of any county, thus, it is the largest independent city in the United States, with a population of 621,849 as of 2015. As of 2010, the population of the Baltimore Metropolitan Area was 2.7 million, founded in 1729, Baltimore is the second largest seaport in the Mid-Atlantic. Baltimores Inner Harbor was once the leading port of entry for immigrants to the United States. With hundreds of identified districts, Baltimore has been dubbed a city of neighborhoods, in the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key wrote The Star-Spangled Banner, later the American national anthem, in Baltimore. More than 65,000 properties, or roughly one in three buildings in the city, are listed on the National Register, more than any city in the nation. The city has 289 properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the historical records of the government of Baltimore are located at the Baltimore City Archives. The city is named after Cecil Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, of the Irish House of Lords, Baltimore Manor was the name of the estate in County Longford on which the Calvert family lived in Ireland. Baltimore is an anglicization of the Irish name Baile an Tí Mhóir, in 1608, Captain John Smith traveled 210 miles from Jamestown to the uppermost Chesapeake Bay, leading the first European expedition to the Patapsco River. The name Patapsco is derived from pota-psk-ut, which translates to backwater or tide covered with froth in Algonquian dialect, a quarter century after John Smiths voyage, English colonists began to settle in Maryland. The area constituting the modern City of Baltimore and its area was first settled by David Jones in 1661. He claimed the area today as Harbor East on the east bank of the Jones Falls stream. In the early 1600s, the immediate Baltimore vicinity was populated, if at all. The Baltimore area had been inhabited by Native Americans since at least the 10th millennium BC, one Paleo-Indian site and several Archaic period and Woodland period archaeological sites have been identified in Baltimore, including four from the Late Woodland period. During the Late Woodland period, the culture that is called the Potomac Creek complex resided in the area from Baltimore to the Rappahannock River in Virginia. It was located on the Bush River on land that in 1773 became part of Harford County, in 1674, the General Assembly passed An Act for erecting a Court-house and Prison in each County within this Province. The site of the house and jail for Baltimore County was evidently Old Baltimore near the Bush River. In 1683, the General Assembly passed An Act for Advancement of Trade to establish towns, ports, one of the towns established by the act in Baltimore County was on Bush River, on Town Land, near the Court-House
13.
Step Up 3D
–
Step Up 3D is a 2010 American 3D dance film written by Amy Andelson and Emily Meyer and directed by Step Up 2, The Streetss Jon M. Chu. The sequel sees the return of Adam Sevani and Alyson Stoner, Step Up 3D premiered in Hollywood at the El Capitan Theater on August 2,2010 and was subsequently released worldwide on August 6,2010, through conventional 2D and 3D formats. It was also the movie to feature the Dolby Surround 7.1 audio format theatrically. In New York City, Moose and Camille attend the New York University, Moose is majoring in electrical engineering after promising his father that he would not dance anymore. While touring the campus, he sees a pair of Limited Edition Gun Metal Nike Dunks worn by Luke Katcher, Moose follows the shoes and then stumbles upon a dance battle, where he beats Kid Darkness from the dancing crew House of Samurai. Luke takes him back to his place, an old warehouse converted into a club, Luke shows Moose his dance crew, the House of Pirates, whom he later teams up with to compete in the World Jam dance contest. Jacob informs Luke the warehouse will be put up for auction if the overdue rents are not paid, Luke meets Natalie at the club and notices her dancing abilities, enlisting her to become part of his crew, but is unaware of Natalies motives. Moose has to choose between his studies and dance, between a test and a dance competition and he goes to test, but seeing the paper and receiving a message from Luke, he rushes to the competition just in time. Luke and Natalie become close as the movie progresses, Luke explains his true intentions with his recordings and dance interviews. Natalie is hiding the fact that her brother is Julien, the leader of the House of Samurai, Natalie faces a hard decision between her love and her family. She confronts Luke and asks what happened with him and Julien and he says that Julien was a member of the House of Pirates, but has a gambling problem and he once wagered against the Pirates and threw the battle, so the Pirates kicked him out. After arguing with Julien, she decides to leave Luke, Julien uses her phone to invite Luke for her birthday party. Luke asks Moose to attend the party with him, but because they have no invitation and they find a way to get in and Luke and Natalie dance a tango. Julien reveals Natalies identity and Luke is angry with Natalie, when Luke arrives back at the warehouse, he finds it is foreclosed. Angry at himself for not being a leader, he exclaims that the House of Pirates is over. Moose and Camille are best friends, but Moose does not see that Camille is in love with him, the two fall out after Moose shows up late to a party. Moose and Camille make up the streets by dancing to a remix of Fred Astaire, Camille tells Moose that he can never give up dancing as he was born to do it. Moose helps out Luke by bringing the House of Pirates back together and they discover that the former members are now performing with the House of Samurai
14.
Baltimore, Maryland
–
Baltimore is the largest city in the U. S. state of Maryland, and the 29th-most populous city in the country. It was established by the Constitution of Maryland and is not part of any county, thus, it is the largest independent city in the United States, with a population of 621,849 as of 2015. As of 2010, the population of the Baltimore Metropolitan Area was 2.7 million, founded in 1729, Baltimore is the second largest seaport in the Mid-Atlantic. Baltimores Inner Harbor was once the leading port of entry for immigrants to the United States. With hundreds of identified districts, Baltimore has been dubbed a city of neighborhoods, in the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key wrote The Star-Spangled Banner, later the American national anthem, in Baltimore. More than 65,000 properties, or roughly one in three buildings in the city, are listed on the National Register, more than any city in the nation. The city has 289 properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the historical records of the government of Baltimore are located at the Baltimore City Archives. The city is named after Cecil Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, of the Irish House of Lords, Baltimore Manor was the name of the estate in County Longford on which the Calvert family lived in Ireland. Baltimore is an anglicization of the Irish name Baile an Tí Mhóir, in 1608, Captain John Smith traveled 210 miles from Jamestown to the uppermost Chesapeake Bay, leading the first European expedition to the Patapsco River. The name Patapsco is derived from pota-psk-ut, which translates to backwater or tide covered with froth in Algonquian dialect, a quarter century after John Smiths voyage, English colonists began to settle in Maryland. The area constituting the modern City of Baltimore and its area was first settled by David Jones in 1661. He claimed the area today as Harbor East on the east bank of the Jones Falls stream. In the early 1600s, the immediate Baltimore vicinity was populated, if at all. The Baltimore area had been inhabited by Native Americans since at least the 10th millennium BC, one Paleo-Indian site and several Archaic period and Woodland period archaeological sites have been identified in Baltimore, including four from the Late Woodland period. During the Late Woodland period, the culture that is called the Potomac Creek complex resided in the area from Baltimore to the Rappahannock River in Virginia. It was located on the Bush River on land that in 1773 became part of Harford County, in 1674, the General Assembly passed An Act for erecting a Court-house and Prison in each County within this Province. The site of the house and jail for Baltimore County was evidently Old Baltimore near the Bush River. In 1683, the General Assembly passed An Act for Advancement of Trade to establish towns, ports, one of the towns established by the act in Baltimore County was on Bush River, on Town Land, near the Court-House
15.
Sonja Sohn
–
Sonja Sohn is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Detective Kima Greggs on the HBO drama The Wire and she is also known for having starred in the independent film Slam, which she co-wrote. Her role on The Wire led to her current work as the leader of a Baltimore community initiative called ReWired for Change, Sohn was born Sonja Williams in Fort Benning GA. Her father, is African-American and her mother was Korean and her parents met when her father was stationed in South Korea after the Korean War. She attended and graduated from Warwick High School in Newport News, before she was an actress, Sohn was a slam poet. While performing her work on stage, she was spotted by Marc Levin who offered her a role in his film Slam and she also wrote lyrics and co-wrote the script for the film. It went on to win the Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic Film at the Sundance Film Festival, after debuting in Slam, Sohn appeared in minor roles in films such as Shaft and Bringing Out the Dead. She also starred in independent films Perfume, G and The Killing Zone, through the five seasons of the HBO series The Wire, she held a starring role as Detective Kima Greggs. She struggled during the first season of The Wire and considered quitting as she had trouble recalling her lines and she has also guest starred on many episodes of Cold Case as Toni Halstead. She won the television actress award at the 2008 Asian Excellence Awards for her character on The Wire. She had a role in the Hollywood film Step Up 2. In 2008-09, she was a guest star in the ABC series Brothers & Sisters, in 2011, she was a guest star on the show Bar Karma. She played Detective Samantha Baker in the drama television series Body of Proof with Dana Delany and Jeri Ryan. On May 30,2014, it was announced that Sohn would be joining season 2 of The Originals, previously involved in political activism, Sohn took a break from acting in 2009 to concentrate on social issues. She is the founder and CEO of the Baltimore-based reWIRED for Change, other actors and writers involved with The Wire serve as board members. In 2011, she was presented with the Woman of the Year award from the Harvard Black Mens Forum, Sonja Sohn at the Internet Movie Database reWIRED for Change homepage, rewiredforchange. org, accessed December 8,2014. ReWired and Reading Liverpool Philharmonic, liverpoolphil. com, accessed December 8,2014, ReWired and Reading The Reader Organisation, thereaderonline. co. uk, accessed December 8,2014. Appearances on C-SPAN C-SPAN Q&A interview with Sohn, c-span. org, accessed December 8,2014
16.
Channing Tatum
–
Channing Matthew Tatum is an American actor, dancer, and former stripper. Tatum made his debut in the drama film Coach Carter. His breakthrough role was in the 2006 dance film Step Up and he is known for his portrayal of the character Duke in the 2009 action film G. I. Joe, The Rise of Cobra and its 2013 sequel G. I, Joe films received negative reviews from critics, they were commercially successful, grossing more than $300 million at the box office. Tatum is also known for his role in Magic Mike. He appeared in films as Dear John and The Vow and his other films include Shes the Man, The Dilemma, White House Down, the drama Foxcatcher, The Hateful Eight and Hail, Caesar. Tatum was born in Cullman, Alabama, the son of Kay, a worker, and Glenn Tatum. He has a sister named Paige and he is mostly of English ancestry. His family moved to the Pascagoula, Mississippi area when he was six and he grew up in the bayous near the Mississippi River, where he lived in a rural setting. Tatum has discussed having dealt with attention deficit disorder and dyslexia while growing up, athletic while growing up, he played football, soccer, track, baseball, and performing martial arts, he has said that girls were always biggest distraction in school. As a child, he practiced wuzuquan kung fu, Tatum spent most of his teenage years in the Tampa area, and initially attended Gaither High School. He later attended Glenville State College in Glenville, West Virginia on a football scholarship and he returned home and started working odd jobs. US Weekly reported that around this time Tatum left his job as a roofer and began working as a stripper at a local nightclub, in 2010, he told an Australian newspaper that he wanted to make a movie about his experiences as a stripper. That idea led to the movie Magic Mike, Tatum moved to Miami, where he was discovered by a model talent scout. In 2000, Tatum was first cast as a dancer in Ricky Martins She Bangs music video, after an audition in Orlando, Florida and his experience in the fashion industry began as a model working for noted clients such as Armani and Abercrombie & Fitch. He soon moved into television commercials, landing spots for Mountain Dew. He subsequently signed with Page 305, an agency in Miami. He was cast by Al David for Vogue magazine and soon appeared in campaigns for Abercrombie & Fitch, Nautica, Dolce & Gabbana, American Eagle Outfitters
17.
Jenna Dewan
–
Jenna Dewan Tatum is an American actress and dancer. She began her career as a dancer for Janet Jackson, and later worked with artists including Pink, Missy Elliott. She is known for her role as Nora in the 2006 film Step Up and she has also starred on the short-lived NBC series The Playboy Club and had a recurring role on the FX series American Horror Story, Asylum. She was Freya Beauchamp on the Lifetime series Witches of East End, Dewan has been married to actor Channing Tatum since 2009. Dewan was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the daughter of Nancy Smith and Darryll Dewan and her father is of Lebanese and Polish descent and her mother is of German and English ancestry. She has three siblings, brothers, Dawson Dewan, Dayne Dewan, and Daniel Dewan and her parents divorced when she was young and her mother remarried Claude Brooks Smith. As a child, Dewan-Tatum moved frequently, she mentioned in an interview that she lived in seven cities before reaching the seventh grade, while attending high school at Notre Dame Preparatory School in Towson, Maryland, Dewan was a varsity cheerleader. She transferred to Grapevine High School in Grapevine, Texas and she was also a varsity cheerleader there and graduated in 1999 from Grapevine High School and was voted prom queen during her senior year. She went to University of Southern California and was a member of the California Gamma Chapter of Pi Beta Phi, Dewan first appeared in Janet Jacksons Doesnt Really Matter video, and later in All for You and the All for You Tour. Dewan credits working with Jackson for aiding her career, allowing her to work with many other artists. In 2016, Dewan-Tatum modeled as the face of Danskin in a campaign, in 2006, Dewan co-starred with Channing Tatum in Step Up, as well as starring in Take the Lead that same year. In August 2008, Dewan starred in the Lifetime made-for-television film Fab Five and she portrayed the role of disciplinarian Coach Emma Carr. In November 2009, she appeared in the straight-to-DVD comedy American Virgin alongside Rob Schneider, in March 2011, Dewan was cast in the NBC pilot of The Playboy Club. In May 2011, NBC picked up the series for a full season and she portrayed the role of Bunny Janie, a provocative Playboy bunny who works at a Playboy Club in Chicago in 1961. The series premiered on September 19 to 5.2 million viewers with mixed reviews from critics, due to low ratings, NBC cancelled the series after just three episodes in October 2011. In November 2011, Dewan starred in the film The Jerk Theory and this was first released in Germany in 2009. It was later released in the US in November 2011, Dewan appeared in the romantic-comedy film 10 Years, produced by her husband Channing Tatum. The film was released on September 14,2012 and that same year, she appeared in American Horror Story, Asylum, the second season of the horror television series, as Teresa Morrison
18.
Danielle Polanco
–
Danielle Polanco is an American dancer and choreographer. She is best known for being the lady in Omarions music video Touch and for starring in the 2008 movie Step Up 2, The Streets. Polanco has choreographed for Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé Knowles and she has also appeared as a dancer in numerous music videos for artists such as Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé, Amerie, Janet Jackson, Usher and Kat DeLuna. She is a voguer under the House of Ninja and she appeared in the Broadway revival of West Side Story as one of the Shark girls, Consuela. Tony Touchs Dimelo — dancer Ment 2Bs Wassup Wassup — dancer MVPs Roc Ya Body — dancer Widelife feat
19.
Cassie Ventura
–
Casandra Elizabeth Ventura, known mononymously as Cassie, is an American recording artist, dancer, actress and model. Born in New London, Connecticut, she began her career as a result of meeting record producer Ryan Leslie in late 2002, who later signed her to NextSelection Lifestyle Group. During this time, Diddy heard Me & U in a club, on April 11,2013 Cassie released her debut mixtape RockaByeBaby, which was promoted with the release of Numb featuring Rick Ross and Paradise featuring Wiz Khalifa. Apart from music, Cassie is signed to modeling agency Wilhelmina Models, Cassie is known for being a style icon due to her edgy style and feminine and sophisticated fashion. Cassie is also known for setting the trend among women of shaving their hair, Cassie cites Kate Moss as her style influence. Cassie has also ventured into acting, she made her debut in Step Up 2. Cassie Ventura was born in 1986 in New London, Connecticut, the daughter of a Filipino father and she attended the Williams School, a preparatory school, located on the Connecticut College campus. At age 14 Cassie began modeling, and when she was sixteen, she was modeling for department stores, Delias fashion catalog. Cassie also briefly appeared in R&B singer Marios Just a Friend 2002 music video, encouraged by producer Rockwilder, Cassie took vocal lessons as well as using her schools performing arts program, taking modern ballet. Cassie finished high school in 2004, instead of going to college like her peers she moved to New York City, whilst Cassie was in New York, she began booking print and commercial modeling gigs and being represented by Wilhelmina Models. Ryan Leslie spotted Cassie at clubs and parties in late 2002 frequently, the two wrote a duet called Kiss Me, and after recording the track, Leslie played the song for music executive Tommy Mottola. Mottola offered Cassie a management deal, and Leslie signed her to NextSelection Lifestyle Group, Leslie wrote and produced Cassies first single, Me & U, in 2005. The song became a hit in Germany. During this time, Diddy heard Me & U in a club, Ryan Leslie produced most of the album, which is a mix of R&B/hip hop/pop. She paid tribute to her Filipino culture by incorporating OPM sounds into some of the ballads, the album, Cassie, was released on August 8,2006 and sold 321,000 copies in the United States. The albums lead single Me & U peaked at three on the Billboard Hot 100, selling more than 1 million digital downloads. To promote her album, Cassie performed on Total Request Live and 106 & Park and her performances were described as rocky and less-than-stellar, but Diddy said that it was due to her inexperience. He said that he would be with her through her development, Cassie addressed the events on her MySpace page, saying that she is aware that her performances were pretty bad, and that she was still getting over stage fright
20.
Adam Sevani
–
Adam G. Sevani is an American actor and dancer, known for playing Robert Alexander III in Step Up. Sevani is of Armenian and Italian descent and his older brother, V Sevani, was a member of the Boy Band NLT. Sevani was raised in Los Angeles, California and started dancing from an age at the Synthesis Dance Center. In February 2008, Sevani appeared in the Touchstone Pictures dance drama film Step Up 2, The Streets, the film centered on a group of students who form a dance troupe and battle on the streets. Sevanis performance as Robert Moose Alexander III was praised by critics, such as The New York Times, the film, which received generally mixed reviews, went on to gross over $150 million worldwide. For his role in the film, Sevani received the Best Scene Stealer award at the 2008 Young Hollywood Awards, in May 2009 Sevani was confirmed to reprise the role of Moose in the planned third installment of the Step Up trilogy. Filming took place in New York City on a $30 million budget, the film, Step Up 3D, centers on Moose and his best friend Camille Alyson Stoner moving to New York to start University until Sevanis character gets mixed up in the underground dance scene. The film was released in August 2010 to generally mixed reviews from critics, as of August 2012, the film is the highest grossing installment of the trilogy, with over $159 million worldwide. In July 2012, Sevani made a appearance in the trilogys fourth installment, Step Up. In 2014, Sevani once again reprised his role as Moose in the installment of the Step Up film series, Step Up. In August 2010, Sevani was confirmed to star in the American remake of the 2008 French film LOL, alongside Miley Cyrus, Demi Moore, the film centers on Cyruss character finishing her final year of high school. In May 2012, the received a limited US release. Sevani has appeared in videos such as, Mases Breathe, Stretch, Shake, Will Smiths Switch, T-Pains Church. He also did the choreography for NLTs music video for Karma and he is credited as a back-up dancer for Kevin Federlines performance on the Teen Choice Awards in 2006. Adam also formed a crew with Jon Chu and several California area dancers with celebrity cameos in 2008 known as the AC/DC. The crew had a highly publicized YouTube dance battle with Miley Cyrus, the battle ended with a final dance off between the two crews at the 2008 Teen Choice Awards. In November 2008, he was featured in a video to Michael Jacksons 26th Anniversary Thriller video for Halloween. Adam G. Sevani at the Internet Movie Database Adam G. Sevani at AllMovie
21.
Harry Shum, Jr.
–
Harry Shum Jr. is a Chinese-Costa Rican-American actor, dancer, singer and choreographer. He is best known for his roles as Mike Chang on the Fox comedy-drama television series Glee and as Magnus Bane on the Freeform fantasy television series Shadowhunters. He has appeared in the films Stomp the Yard, You Got Served, Step Up 2, The Streets, Step Up 3D and he also played Elliot Hoo in The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. Shum was born in San Jose, Costa Rica and his mother is a native of Hong Kong, and his father is from Guangzhou, China. They relocated to Costa Rica, where Shum and his two sisters were born. When Shum was six years old, the moved to San Francisco. He stated, I feel I have the best of so many worlds, Spanish is actually my first language before I learned Cantonese and English. He later stated that he hasnt spoken Spanish fluently since the age of 6 and he spent most of his schooling years in the San Luis Obispo area and graduated from Arroyo Grande High School in 2000. Initially he had been interested in theater and sports but found a new passion in dance after auditioning for his high school dance team on a dare. In an interview, he said that his earliest motivations to dance were from watching Ginuwine, Dru Hill, Shum has stated that he identifies as being somewhat Latino. I do consider myself somewhat Latin, Shum launched his career as the only male dancer on BETs ComicView in 2002, and has continued his dancing career from there. He was also one of the dancers for stars such as Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez. He won a competition to dance in an iPod commercial. From 2009 until 2015, he portrayed the role of Mike Chang and he subsequently gave performances of Make Em Laugh in The Substitute, Sing from A Chorus Line in Duets, Valerie in Special Education, and the shows first dance solo in A Night of Neglect. He was promoted from guest star to series regular for the third season and he was given a major storyline in the third episode of the season, Asian F, and performed Cool from West Side Story, his first solo song. On June 28,2013, it was reported that Shum would not return as regular on Glees fifth season, Shum has been featured in many productions done by Wong Fu Productions. In 2010, he appeared in Step Up 3-D as Cable and he is also a dancer and choreographer for the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. In 2011, Shum completed an action film,3 Minutes, directed Ross Ching and produced by Don Le
22.
Telisha Shaw
–
Telisha Shaw is an American actress, dancer, and singer. She starred as Felicia in Buena Vista Pictures Step Up 2, The Streets and she began studying ballet at the age of three and later, at age 11, received a scholarship to the Dance Theatre of Harlem under the direction of Arthur Mitchell. She attended the University of Tennessee at Knoxville as a dance major, after finishing at the University of Tennessee, she moved to Los Angeles, California, to become a professional dancer and to concentrate on her acting career. Shaw made her debut in the crime thriller Dirty as the young, drug-addicted girlfriend of Cuba Gooding. She then landed guest appearances on Weeds, Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Campus Ladies, Shaw next appeared in Step Up 2, The Streets released in February 2008. Telisha Shaw at the Internet Movie Database
23.
Rotten Tomatoes
–
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by Senh Duong and since January 2010 has been owned by Flixster, in February 2016, Rotten Tomatoes and its parent site Flixster were sold to Comcasts Fandango. Warner Bros. retained a minority stake in the merged entities, since 2007, the websites editor-in-chief has been Matt Atchity. The name, Rotten Tomatoes, derives from the practice of audiences throwing rotten tomatoes when disapproving of a stage performance. From early 2008 to September 2010, Current Television aired the weekly The Rotten Tomatoes Show, featuring hosts, a shorter segment was incorporated into the weekly show, InfoMania, which ended in 2011. In September 2013, the website introduced TV Zone, a section for reviewing scripted TV shows, Rotten Tomatoes was launched on August 12,1998, as a spare-time project by Senh Duong. His goal in creating Rotten Tomatoes was to create a site where people can get access to reviews from a variety of critics in the U. S. As a fan of Jackie Chans, Duong was inspired to create the website after collecting all the reviews of Chans movies as they were being published in the United States, the first movie whose reviews were featured on Rotten Tomatoes was Your Friends & Neighbors. The website was an success, receiving mentions by Netscape, Yahoo. and USA Today within the first week of its launch. They officially launched it on April 1,2000, in June 2004, IGN Entertainment acquired rottentomatoes. com for an undisclosed sum. In September 2005, IGN was bought by News Corps Fox Interactive Media, in January 2010, IGN sold the website to Flixster. The combined reach of both companies is 30 million unique visitors a month across all different platforms, according to the companies, in May 2011, Flixster was acquired by Warner Bros. In early 2009, Current Television launched the version of the web review site. It was hosted by Brett Erlich and Ellen Fox and written by Mark Ganek, the show aired every Thursday at 10,30 EST on the Current TV network. The last episode aired on September 16,2010 and it returned as a much shorter segment of InfoMania, a satirical news show that ended in 2011. By late 2009, the website was designed to enable Rotten Tomatoes users to create, one group, The Golden Oyster Awards, accepted votes of members for different awards, as if in parallel to the better-known Oscars or Golden Globes. When Flixster bought the company, they disbanded the groups, announcing, in the meantime, please use the Forums to continue your conversations about your favorite movie topics. As of February 2011, new community features have been added, for example, users can no longer sort films by fresh ratings from rotten ratings, and vice versa
24.
Metacritic
–
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of media products, music albums, games, movies, TV shows, DVDs, and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged, Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc Doyle, and Julie Doyle Roberts. The site provides an excerpt from each review and hyperlinks to its source, a color of Green, Yellow or Red summarizes the critics recommendations and therefore the general appeal of the product to reviewers and, to a lesser extent, the public. It is regarded as the game industrys foremost review aggregator. Metacritics scoring converts each review into a percentage, either mathematically from the mark given, before being averaged, the scores are weighted according to the critics fame, stature, and volume of reviews. Metacritic was launched in July 1999 by Marc Doyle, his sister Julie Doyle Roberts, rotten Tomatoes was already compiling movie reviews, but Doyle, Roberts, and Dietz saw an opportunity to cover a broader range of media. They sold Metacritic to CNET in 2005, CNET and Metacritic are now owned by the CBS Corporation. Nick Wingfield of The Wall Street Journal wrote in September 2004, Mr. Doyle,36, is now a product manager at CNET. Speaking of video games, Doyle said, A site like ours helps people cut through. unobjective promotional language and he added that the review process was not taken as seriously when unconnected magazines and websites provided reviews in isolation. In August 2010, the appearance was revamped, reaction from users was overwhelmingly negative. Certain publications are given more significance because of their stature, games Editor Marc Doyle was interviewed by Keith Stuart of The Guardian to get a look behind the metascoring process. Stuart wrote, the phenomenon, namely Metacritic and GameRankings, have become an enormously important element of online games journalism over the past few years. The ranging of metascores is, Metacritic is regarded as the foremost online review site for the video game industry. Nick Wingfield of The Wall Street Journal has written that Metacritic influence the sales of games and he explains its influence as coming from the higher cost of buying video games than music or movie tickets. Many executives say that low scores can hurt the sales potential. He claimed that a number of businesses and financial analysts use Metacritic as an early indicator of a games potential sales and, by extension. In 2004, Jason Hall of Warner Bros. began including quality metrics in contracts with partners licensing its movies for games, if a product does not at least achieve a specific score, some deals require the publisher to pay higher royalties. In 2008, Microsoft began using Metacritic averages to de-list underperforming Xbox Live Arcade games and these are the top 10 individual games with the highest scores on the site as of 2 April 2017
25.
DVD
–
DVD is a digital optical disc storage format invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. The medium can store any kind of data and is widely used for software. DVDs offer higher capacity than compact discs while having the same dimensions. Pre-recorded DVDs are mass-produced using molding machines that physically stamp data onto the DVD, such discs are a form of DVD-ROM because data can only be read and not written or erased. Blank recordable DVD discs can be recorded using a DVD recorder. Rewritable DVDs can be recorded and erased many times, DVDs containing other types of information may be referred to as DVD data discs. The OED also states that in 1995, The companies said the name of the format will simply be DVD. Toshiba had been using the name ‘digital video disk’, but that was switched to ‘digital versatile disk’ after computer companies complained that it left out their applications, Digital versatile disc is the explanation provided in a DVD Forum Primer from 2000 and in the DVD Forums mission statement. There were several formats developed for recording video on optical discs before the DVD, Optical recording technology was invented by David Paul Gregg and James Russell in 1958 and first patented in 1961. A consumer optical disc data format known as LaserDisc was developed in the United States and it used much larger discs than the later formats. CD Video used analog video encoding on optical discs matching the established standard 120 mm size of audio CDs, Video CD became one of the first formats for distributing digitally encoded films in this format, in 1993. In the same year, two new optical disc formats were being developed. By the time of the launches for both formats in January 1995, the MMCD nomenclature had been dropped, and Philips and Sony were referring to their format as Digital Video Disc. Representatives from the SD camp asked IBM for advice on the system to use for their disc. Alan E. Bell, a researcher from IBMs Almaden Research Center, got that request and this group was referred to as the Technical Working Group, or TWG. On August 14,1995, an ad hoc group formed from five computer companies issued a release stating that they would only accept a single format. The TWG voted to both formats unless the two camps agreed on a single, converged standard. They recruited Lou Gerstner, president of IBM, to pressure the executives of the warring factions, as a result, the DVD specification provided a storage capacity of 4.7 GB for a single-layered, single-sided disc and 8.5 GB for a dual-layered, single-sided disc
26.
Blu-Ray
–
Blu-ray or Blu-ray Disc is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was designed to supersede the DVD format, in that it is capable of storing high-definition, the plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Conventional Blu-ray Disc discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the standard for feature-length video discs. Triple-layer discs and quadruple layers are available for BD-XL re-writer drives, the name Blu-ray refers to the blue laser used to read the disc, which allows information to be stored at a greater density than is possible with the longer-wavelength red laser used for DVDs. The main application of Blu-ray is as a medium for video material such as films and physical distribution of video games for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4. Besides the hardware specifications, Blu-ray is associated with a set of multimedia formats, high-definition video may be stored on Blu-ray discs with up to 2160p resolution, at up to 60 frames per second. DVD discs had been limited to a resolution of 480p or 576p. The BD format was developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association, a group representing makers of consumer electronics, computer hardware, Sony unveiled the first Blu-ray disc prototypes in October 2000, and the first prototype player was released in April 2003 in Japan. Afterwards, it continued to be developed until its release in June 2006. During the high definition disc format war, Blu-ray Disc competed with the HD DVD format. Toshiba, the company that supported HD DVD, conceded in February 2008. According to Media Research, high-definition software sales in the US were slower in the first two years than DVD software sales, Blu-ray faces competition from video on demand and the continued sale of DVDs. As of January 2016, 44% of U. S. broadband households had a Blu-ray player, the information density of the DVD format was limited by the wavelength of the laser diodes used. Following protracted development, blue laser diodes operating at 405 nanometers became available on a production basis, Sony started two projects in collaboration with Philips applying the new diodes, UDO, and DVR Blue, a format of rewritable discs that would eventually become Blu-ray Disc. The core technologies of the formats are similar, the first DVR Blue prototypes were unveiled at the CEATEC exhibition in October 2000 by Sony. A trademark for the Blue Disc logo was filed February 9,2001, on February 19,2002, the project was officially announced as Blu-ray Disc, and Blu-ray Disc Founders was founded by the nine initial members. The first consumer device arrived in stores on April 10,2003, the Sony BDZ-S77, but there was no standard for prerecorded video, and no movies were released for this player. On October 4,2004, the name Blu-ray Disc Founders was officially changed to the Blu-ray Disc Association, the Blu-ray Disc physical specifications were completed in 2004
27.
Is It You
–
Is It You is a song recorded by American singer Cassie for the soundtrack album of the 2008 dance film Step Up 2, The Streets, in which she co-stars as Sophie Donovan. It was made available for download on November 13,2007, through NextSelection Lifestyle Groups venture with Bad Boy. The song was written and produced by Ryan Leslie with additional contributor Brent Paschke, Cassie stated she recorded it in May 2007 in Los Angeles and tucked it away for her album as she was preparing to shoot the film and not planning on being a part of the soundtrack. She described it as something a lot different for me, but when asked by Touchstone to submit a track she considered it was the song, calling it young. Is It You received positive reception from critics and was listed as one of the best songs of 2007 by Pitchfork. The visuals mostly show Cassie singing next to Ryan Leslie while he plays the piano in a dance studio, after moving to New York City to pursue a modeling career, Cassie met producer Ryan Leslie in 2004. It was preceded by the Platinum single Me & U, which peaked in the top ten of several countries, but, its raw at the same time, and fits the movie perfectly, she elaborated. The is it you, is it you part brings the song to a peak, is It You charted in major international territories, such as the United Kingdom at number fifty-two, reaching the top ten of its component R&B chart where it peaked at number ten. It also peaked at number sixty-three on the Scottish Singles Chart, in Australia, the song appeared at number forty-nine on the ARIA Digital Track Chart, which ranks the countrys highest selling legally downloaded music tracks. A music video for the song, directed by Jon M. Chu, was released on the Step Up 2, in the visuals, set in the films school dance studio, Ryan Leslie begins with an introduction on the piano. Cassie, who plays the character Sophie Donovan in the movie, clips from the film also appear throughout the video. It was later included as an outtake from Step Up 2, Cassie talked about the scene not making the final cut of the film, we tried to make it so it wasnt like Cassie the artist doing it and I think they took it out. Digital download Is It You –3,57 CD single Is It You –3,31 Credits adapted from AllMusic and the liner notes of Step Up 2, The Streets. Locations Recorded at Paramount Studios, Los Angeles Mixed at Legacy Studios, New York City Mastered at Sterling Sound, New York City Personnel Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
28.
JabbaWockeeZ
–
The Jabbawockeez is a hip-hop dance crew best known for being the winners of the first season of Americas Best Dance Crew. They were initially formed by members Kevin KB Brewer, Phil Swagger Boy Tayag, by 2004, their members included Ben B-Tek Chung, Chris Cristyle Gatdula, Rynan Kid Rainen Paguio, and Jeff Phi Nguyen. Tony Transformer Tran joined the crew in 2013, the Jabbawockeez do not have a group leader, choreography for their performances, as well as music and design choices, is made as a collective unit. Phil Swagger Boy Tayag, Kevin KB Brewer, Joe Punkee Larot began performing as a trio called Three Muskee in Sacramento, California while wearing white masks, the mask and glove motif was adopted as a tribute to the 1970s San Francisco strutting crew Medea Sirkas. Gary Gee One Kendall and Randy DJ Wish One Bernal were both members of the MindTricks dance crew who were active in the San Francisco Bay Area, both the MindTricks dance crew and the Three Muskee were friends and associates with each other. Tayag, Brewer, and Larot all later moved to the San Diego area, established in 2003 in San Diego, California, Jabbawockeez is the brainchild of the Three Musky who wanted to showcase freestyle dance. The name Jabbawockeez, coined by Joe Larot, was inspired by the monster from the Lewis Carroll nonsense poem Jabberwocky. The white masks and gloves from Phil, Kevin, and Joes performances as Three Musky were adopted as the signature of the group. In San Diego, through Garys connections, the Jabbawockeez added b-boys Rynan Kid Rainen Paguio, the original seven member iteration of the Jabbawockeez began performing as a group in 2004. This lineup consisted of Gary, Randy, Phil, Kevin, Joe, Rynan, Jabbawockeez rounded out their numbers with additional members, bringing their total to eleven. Phoenix native Jeff Phi Nguyen had met Rynan Paguio at various Los Angeles area auditions and performances, the Jabbawockeez also brought Kaba Modern alumnus Ben B-Tek Chung and b-boys Eddie Eddiestyles Gutierrez and Saso Saso Fresh Jimenez into the fold. In 2007, the JabbaWockeeZ appeared on the season of Americas Got Talent. Performing with nine members, the group was eliminated in the Las Vegas callbacks episode, in 2008, they auditioned and were accepted onto the first season of Americas Best Dance Crew. The Jabbawockeez auditioned as a contingent for the first season of Americas Best Dance Crew. The group chose Ben Chung to replace Joe on the show and left Garys spot vacant and they eventually went on to become the winners of the show. The win earned the crew $100,000 and they also made a cameo appearance in Step Up 2 The Streets, launched their own clothing line, and toured with New Kids on the Block, and Jesse McCartney. Along with the ABDC season two winner, Super Cr3w, Jabbawockeez were the act for the Battle of the VMAs ABDC special. The group also made an appearance on Cycle 13 of Americas Next Top Model during the episode Dance With Me to help the contestants learn how to convey emotions with their bodies and they also starred in Shake It Up, a Disney Channel Comedy Show
29.
Flo Rida
–
Tramar Lacel Dillard, known professionally as Flo Rida, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter from Carol City, Florida. His 2008 breakout single Low was number one for 10 weeks in the United States, Flo Ridas debut studio album, 2008s Mail on Sunday, reached number four in the US. The album was succeeded by R. O. O. T. S and his subsequent albums, 2010s Only One Flo and 2012s Wild Ones, also charted on the US Billboard 200 chart. Flo Rida has sold over 80 million digital downloads, making him one of the music artists. His catalog includes the international singles Right Round, Club Cant Handle Me, Good Feeling, Wild Ones, Whistle, I Cry, G. D. F. R. and My House. Flo Rida was born as Tramar Lacel Dillard in Carol City, Florida and his parents raised him and his seven sisters together, some of whom sang in a local gospel group. His brother-in-law was a man for local rap group 2 Live Crew. The GroundHoggz had been a group, with members who lived in the same apartment complex as Flo Rida. They started recording at underground studios in Carver Ranches, the GroundHoggz, in this four-man incarnation, remained together for eight years. Flo Ridas work with 2 Live Crew member Fresh Kid Ice, attracted the attention of DeVante Swing, however, he was rejected by several of the major labels, so he sought many other jobs outside of music. After graduating from school in 1998, he studied international business management at the University of Nevada. He returned to Florida to continue pursuing his career after receiving a phone call from a representative of the independent label Poe Boy Entertainment. Flo Rida signed with Hot Boyz, in 2000 and with Poe Boy, in 2004 and began affiliating himself for Cash Money with other Southern hip hop artists, such as Rick Ross, Trina, T-Pain, and Trick Daddy. A promotional single entitled Birthday, featuring Rick Ross, was his first significant release. He made his debut guest appearance with the song Bitch Im From Dade County on DJ Khaleds album We the Best, which also features Trick Daddy, Trina, Rick Ross, Brisco, C-Ride, Flo Ridas debut album, Mail on Sunday, was released in March 2008. The first single was Low, featuring T-Pain, which was included in the soundtrack to the movie Step Up 2. Low reached No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Elevator, featuring Timbaland, In the Ayer featuring will. i. am, and Roll featuring Sean Kingston followed, and both charted on the Hot 100 and other charts. In addition to T-Pain, there were featured guests throughout Mail on Sunday
30.
T-Pain
–
Faheem Rashad Najm, better known by his stage name T-Pain, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer from Tallahassee, Florida. His debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, was released in 2005, in 2007, T-Pain released his second album Epiphany, which reached number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. His third album, Thr33 Ringz, was released in 2008, T-Pain has also released a string of hit singles, including Im Sprung, Im n Luv, Buy U a Drank, Bartender, Cant Believe It,5 OClock and more. T-Pain has earned two Grammy Awards, alongside artists Kanye West and Jamie Foxx respectively, T-Pain is the founder of the record label imprint Nappy Boy Entertainment, established in 2005. Najm was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida and his stage name is short for Tallahassee Pain, and was chosen because of the hardships he experienced while living there. Najm was brought up in a Muslim household, but he has expressed his lack of interest in the concept of religion, at age ten, Najm turned his bedroom into a music studio, using a keyboard, a beat machine and a four-track recorder. T-Pain joined the rap group Nappy Headz in 2004 and later recorded Im Fucked Up, recording artist Akon heard the song and immediately signed T-Pain to Konvict Muzik, his label. After being discovered, T-Pain began singing instead of rapping, T-Pain subsequently recorded and released his debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, on December 6,2005. The album reached number thirty-three on the Billboard 200, and has since been certified Gold by the RIAA, for reaching sales of 500,000 units. The album was preceded by the single, Im Sprung. The second single, Im N Luv, featuring Mike Jones, was released in December 2005 and reached five on the Hot 100. The third and final single from the album, Studio Luv, was released in October 2006, in mid-2006, T-Pain began work on his second album, now with the Zomba Label Group as well as Konvict Muzik and Jive Records. The album, titled Epiphany, was released on June 5,2007, the album sold 171,000 records in its first week, reaching number one on the Billboard 200. The record has since sold 819,000 records in the United States, the album was preceded by the lead single Buy U a Drank featuring Yung Joc in February 2007. The single reached number one on both the Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming his first single to top charts. The albums second single, Bartender, featuring Akon was released in June 2007 and reached five on the Hot 100. The third and final single from the album, Church, was released in October 2007, while promoting his second album, T-Pain made guest appearances on multiple songs by other artists. T-Pain was featured on Im a Flirt by R. Kelly with T. I
31.
Low (Flo Rida song)
–
Low is the debut single by American rapper Flo Rida, featured on his debut studio album Mail on Sunday and also featured on the soundtrack to the 2008 film Step Up 2, The Streets. The song features and was co-written by fellow American rapper T-Pain, there is also a remix in which the hook is sung by Flo Rida rather than T-Pain. An official remix was made which features Pitbull and T-Pain, with its catchy, up-tempo and club-oriented Southern hip hop rhythms, the song peaked at the summit of the U. S. Billboard Hot 100. The song was a success worldwide and was the longest-running number-one single of 2008 in the United States. With over six million downloads, it has been certified 8× Platinum by the RIAA. The song was named third on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Decade, several of T-Pains stylistic effects are present in this song, including Auto-Tune and call and answer during the chorus. It contains electronic elements featuring 808-style drums and a note sequence instead of a chord progression. Flo Rida has sexually charged lyrics, for example he refers to a womans buttocks as birthday cakes which stole the show, T-Pain also relies heavily on synthesizers. The song is written in the key of E♭ minor, Flo Rida uses a style that is common in 1990s hip-hop party music. Low is written in time with a moderate tempo of 120 beats per minute while T-Pains vocal range spans nearly two to three octaves from B♭1 to F♯3. The song makes references to a Shawty in a club who is wearing Apple Bottom jeans, Shawty also wears baggy sweat pants and Reeboks with the straps. The lyrics repeatedly suggest that Shawty is extremely attractive and possesses great skill in dancing provocatively, in particular, the song describes one of her more memorable dance sequences as giving her buttocks a smack prior to getting low. The music video of Low was directed by Bernard Gourley and contains clips from Step Up 2. It also contains cameos from Rick Ross, DJ Khaled, Cool & Dre, Briana Evigan, Torch and Gunplay of Triple Cs, also, T-Pain and Flo Rida are in a nightclub in a few scenes. The music video reached the one spot on 106 & Park for five days and 22 days on TRL. The music video was nominated at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Male Video and Best Hip-Hop Video. The song generated the second greatest one-week digital sales in the history of Billboards Digital Songs chart, with 467,000 digital copies in one week. Low was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for ten weeks and remained in the top ten of the chart for 23 weeks, the song stayed on the Hot 100 for 39 weeks, before dropping out in June 2008
32.
Missy Elliott
–
Melissa Arnette Missy Elliott, often known professionally as Missy Misdemeanor Elliott, is an American rapper, dancer, and record producer. Following several collaborations and guest appearances, she launched her career in 1997 with her debut album Supa Dupa Fly. The album debuted at three on the Billboard 200, the highest-charting debut for a female rapper at the time. Elliotts following album Da Real World, produced the singles Shes a Bitch, All n My Grill, with the release of Miss E. So Addictive, Under Construction, and This Is Not a Test, Elliott established an international career that yielded hits including Get Ur Freak On, One Minute Man,4 My People, Gossip Folks, and Work It. The latter won her a Grammy Award for Best Female Rap Solo Performance, Elliott went on to win five Grammy Awards, melissa Arnette Elliott was born on July 1,1971, in Portsmouth, Virginia. She is the child of mother Patricia Elliott, a power-company dispatcher, and father Ronnie. Elliott grew up in a church choir family, and singing was a normal part of her youth. At the age of four in 1975, she wanted to be a performer, in later years, she feared no one would take her seriously, because she was always the class clown. While her father was an active Marine, the family lived in Jacksonville, North Carolina, Elliott blossomed during this part of her life. She enjoyed school for the friendships she formed though she had little interest in school work and she would later get well above average marks on intelligence tests, and she was advanced two years ahead of her former class. Her move in grades caused isolation, and she purposely failed, when her father returned from the Marines, they moved back to Virginia, where they lived in extreme poverty. Life in Virginia saw many hardships, Elliott tells of domestic abuse by her father. She refused to stay over at friends homes out of fear that, on her return home, when Elliott was eight, she was molested by a cousin. In one violent incident, Ronnie Elliott dislocated his wifes shoulders and, during another, at fourteen, Elliotts mother decided to end the situation, she fled with her daughter under the guise of taking a joyride on a local bus. In reality, the pair had found refuge at a members home where their possessions were stored in a loaded U-Haul truck. Elliott tells that she feared her father would kill them both for leaving and she later stated, When we left, my mother realized how strong she was on her own, and it made me strong. It took her leaving to realize, Elliott graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1990
33.
Ching-a-Ling
–
Ching-a-Ling is a song by Missy Elliott, and is the lead single for the Step Up 2 the Streets soundtrack. It was also supposed to appear on Elliotts seventh studio album, the song premiered on both Elliotts MySpace and official website on January 10,2008. Within a week, it had debuted on the U. S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, the song was made available for download on iTunes as of January 22,2008. In the song, sound elements of the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong are heard throughout the song, the song was number 69 on Rolling Stones list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008. It was directed by Dave Meyers and has a combination of Ching-a-Ling and it is credited as the first ever 3D music video. However, the real first 3D music video, Nastradamus by Nas, was made almost 10 years earlier, the video guest-stars the famous Japanese hip hop dance group U-Min known for their slow motion dancing and popping. The music video was shot in Los Angeles, California in January 2008 and it was styled by stylist Misa Hylton. The video premiered on MTVs TRL and BETs 106 & Park on February 4,2008 and it was released on the UK iTunes before showing on any UK music channel. The Ching-a-Ling portion of the video is set primarily with a white backdrop featuring Elliott and various background dancers. The Shake Your Pom Pom portion of the video is set in what appears to be a house party, with Elliott and others dancing before ending with Elliott. The official remix features Busta Rhymes & Ciara, other additional remixes featuring Kid Capri, Precious Latoye and Buckshot were released via mixtapes and radio airplay. Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics Ching-a-Ling Nomads, a motorcycle club Chuck Zito belonged to in New York, before joining the Hells Angels
34.
Yung Joc
–
Jasiel Amon Robinson, better known by his stage name Yung Joc, is an American hip hop recording artist from Atlanta, Georgia. He is best known for his hit singles Its Goin Down, Robinsons father, Stanley Tucker, owned a hair-care products company and helped him get an opportunity to write a jingle for Revlon. Robinson followed in his fathers footsteps and founded his own label to release his music. Yung Joc met Atlanta producer Nitti Beatz and the two recorded the hit Its Goin Down in the spring of 2005, Yung Joc was also featured on the songs Show Stopper by Danity Kane & Cassies album track Call U Out. Yung Joc was on 2006 Forbes Richest Rappers List, ranking at #20 and its Goin Down reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart. The next single, I Know U See It, reached #17 on the Hot 100, jocs next album, Hustlenomics, was released in 2007, with the singles Coffee Shop and Bottle Poppin. Hustlenomics sold 69,000 copies in its first week of release, as of April 2009, it has sold approximately 197,000 copies according to Nielsen Soundscan. In 2007 Yung Joc was featured on his new artist Hotstylz single Lookin Boy, during 2008 Yung Joc was featured in the hit singles on Get Like Me, So Fly & Beep. Then in 2009 he was featured on Day26 single Imma Put It on Her, Yung Joc released a mixtape entitled Grind Flu for free on his label website Swagg Team Entertainment on August 11,2009. Yung Joc recently released his first single from the album Mr. Robinsons Neighborhood entitled Yeah Boy and they have also recently shot & released the music video for the single. Yung Joc has also stated in a December 26 interview that he would love to work with New York-based producer DJ Premier for a couple of tracks, the second single has been confirmed as I Know What She Like that features Yo Gotti. On October 7,2012, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding J Records along with Arista Records, with the shutdown, Joc were to release his future material on the RCA Records brand. On March 18,2014 Joc released his first official single entitled I Got Bitches from his third album. On September 11,2014 Joc released his single from his upcoming album entitled Features featuring former collaborator & singer T-Pain. In 2010, Joc formed a new record label through Jive Records, called Swagg Team Entertainment, after a widely publicized lawsuit with Block Entertainment, Joc spoke about the lawsuit and his relationship with Diddy in a recent interview. Swagg Team Entertainment saw their debut from Chicago rap group Hotstylz and it also saw the debut from Dallas rap group GS Boyz, their first single being Stanky Legg. Current artists Hotstylz Soufside Prince Charming Myk G Mr 16 Bars Kidd Starr Former groups GS Boyz Since 2014, Joc joined the VH1 reality series Love & Hip Hop and it later was announced that one of the robbers identity was revealed by Joc. Joc knew one of the robbers named Honcho of Thomaston, Georgia, as of 2015, Joc had eight children by four women, Amoni, Ja’Kori, Amir, Chase, twins Cadence and Camora, and twins Eden and Allon
35.
Killa (Cherish song)
–
Killa is the first single by R&B American group Cherish from their second album The Truth. Killa features rap/hip-hop artist Yung Joc, the song is about not being able to resist the man you know is no good. The song was released to iTunes on November 27,2007, the video premiered via BETs Access Granted on December 12,2007 featuring some scenes of the movie Step Up 2, The Streets. The video was directed by Little X, on March 22, Cherish performed this single on Showtime at the Apollo along with their next single Amnesia. It was originally announced that there would be a So So Def remix featuring Jermaine Dupri, however, even though Dupri was on the remix, Rocko was absent, the other collaborator being The Kid Slim. ITunes Single Killa -3,55 Killa -3,5212 Single Killa Killa Killa Killa ZE B8 Killa Official Music Video on YouTube Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
36.
Plies (rapper)
–
Algernod Lanier Washington, better known by his stage name Plies, is an American hip hop recording artist. He is the founder of Big Gates Records, born in Fort Myers, Florida, Washington was a wide receiver on the football team of Miami University in Ohio in 1996 and 1997 before he became a rapper. After dropping out of college, he founded Big Gates with his stepbrother, signed to Slip-n-Slide Records, from 2007 to 2008 he released three albums. Plies debuted in 2007 with The Real Testament with successful singles Shawty, Plies also released two albums in 2008, Definition of Real and Da REAList, and later released Goon Affiliated in 2010. Plies was born Algernod Lanier Washington in Fort Myers, Florida, while at Fort Myers Senior High School, he played receiver and defensive back in its football team, was crowned Homecoming King, and was named the Best Dressed student of his class. He attended Miami University and under the name Nod Washington was wide receiver on its team from 1995 to 1997, then transferred to the University of Central Florida. As a freshman in 1995, Washington had nine receptions for 69 yards, in 1996, his sophomore year, Washington had 25 receptions for 262 yards and 2 touchdowns. The next season, Washington had five receptions for 43 yards, in the late 1990s, Plies and his stepbrother Ronnell Lawrence Lavatte, also known as Big Gates, established an independent record label, Big Gates Records. Although Plies initially refused to rap, after a demonstration for one of his artists, Big Gates and Plies promoted the single and traveled many times to Miami, which eventually led to a deal for Plies on Slip-n-Slide Records. Pliess girlfriend Brandy Lacole Lyons gave birth to a son, Nijier Lanier Washington, at the University Community Hospital in Tampa, after signing to Slip-n-Slide in 2004, Plies released several mixtapes. The Real Testament was released in August 2007 and his debut single Shawty featuring T-Pain topped the Billboard Hot Rap Tracks chart and peaked at number nine on the Hot 100. Hypnotized, the single, featured Akon, and peaked at number three on the Rap chart and 14 on the Hot 100. The third single was I Am the Club, Definition of Real, his second album, was released in June 2008,10 months after releasing his first album. The lead single was Bust It Baby Pt.2 featuring Ne-Yo, the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling over 214,000 copies its first week. The next single was Please Excuse My Hands, featuring Jamie Foxx, RIAA certified Gold Bust It Baby on September 17 and Definition of Real October 14. In the same year Plies released his album, Da REAList, in December 2008. The first official single off this album is Put It on Ya, the album debuted at number 14 on the Billboard 200 with 114,000 copies sold in its first week. The second single is Want It, Need It, featuring Ashanti and he did a guest performance on Ludacriss single Nasty Girl from Ludacriss album Theater of the Mind
37.
Akon
–
Aliaume Damala Badara Akon Thiam, better known as Akon, is a Senegalese-American singer, rapper, songwriter, businessman, record producer and actor. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of Locked Up and he has since founded two successful record labels, Konvict Muzik and Kon Live Distribution. He is the first solo artist to hold both the one and two spots simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 charts twice. Akon has had four songs certified as 3× platinum, three songs certified as 2× platinum, more than ten songs certified as 1× platinum and more than ten songs certified as gold in digital sales, Akon has sung songs in other languages including Tamil, Hindi, and Spanish. He was listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the #1 selling artist for master ringtones in the world, Akon often provides vocals as a featured artist and is currently credited with over 300 guest appearances and more than 35 Billboard Hot 100 songs. He has worked with performers such as Michael Jackson, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Whitney Houston, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. He has had five Grammy Awards nominations and has produced songs for such as Lady Gaga, Colby ODonis, Kardinal Offishall, Leona Lewis. Forbes ranked Akon 80th in Forbes Celebrity 100 in 2010 and 5th in 40 Most Powerful Celebrities in Africa list, Billboard ranked Akon No.6 on the list of Top Digital Songs Artists of the decade. Akon was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and spent much of his childhood in the West African country Senegal, the child of a dancer mother and a percussionist father, Mor Thiam, Akon learned to play five instruments, including drums, guitar and djembe. At age 7, he moved with his family to Union City, New Jersey, growing up in New Jersey, Akon had difficulties getting along with other children. When he and his brother reached high school, his parents left them on their own in Jersey City and moved the rest of the family to Atlanta. In regards to his date, Akon is very protective of it. However, legal documents released by The Smoking Gun list his date of birth as April 16,1973, Akons alleged three years in jail saw him begin to recognize his music abilities and develop an appreciation for his musical background. The songs Akon recorded with Stephens were brought to the attention of Universals imprint SRC Records, in an interview with HitQuarters SRC A&R Jerome Foster said, What caught my attention right away was Lonely, and I said, this kid is official – this is a huge record. Foster and SRC CEO Steve Rifkind immediately boarded a plane to Atlanta to meet the young artist. Akon knew of Fosters work as producer Knobody and so there was a mutual respect for one another, Akon increased his exposure further by collaborating with overseas artists, including New Zealands rapper Savage and hip-hop producer P-Money, performing choruses as a featured vocalist. Akons solo debut album, Trouble was released on June 29,2004 and it spawned the singles Locked Up and Lonely, Belly Dancer, Pot Of Gold, and Ghetto. Locked Up reached 8th position in the U. S. Ghetto became a radio hit when it was remixed by DJ Green Lantern to include verses from rappers 2Pac and The Notorious B. I. G
