1.
Diesel (brand)
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Diesel S. p. A. is an Italian retail clothing company, located in Breganze, Italy. It sells denim, and other clothing and accessories, the clothing line has two different brands, Diesel and Diesel Black Gold. Theres also a line for children, called Diesel Kid, the company is known for its surreal advertising campaigns. Since 2013 the creative director has been Nicola Formichetti, Diesel founder Renzo Rosso began stitching jeans on a sewing machine at the age of fifteen. He used his mother’s sewing machine to produce low-riding, bell bottomed jeans and he later attended an industrial textile manufacturing college in Padua. In 1976 Rosso began working for a manufacturer called Moltex. Rosso bought out Goldschmieds interest in the Diesel brand name in 1985 for US$500,000, Rosso has said that he learned marketing from the US, creativity from Italy, and systems from Germany. In 1990 Russ Togs, Inc. received the license to market and distribute Diesel lines in the United States, mitsubishi Co received the license to market and distribute in Japan. By 1991, Russ Togs was going out of business, as a result of Russ Togs collapse, the creation of made in the USA Diesel products never came to fruition, and Diesel instead placed its made in Italy jeans and clothing in US stores. In 1992, Diesel became the sponsor for the World Superbike racing circuit. In 1995, Diesel launched one of the first significant fashion retail websites, the first Diesel jeans to be sold online were available in Finland and Sweden starting in 1997. It then opened a store that allowed home delivery for further markets the following year. Further flagship stores opened, including stores in Berlin, Barcelona, Diesel also produces illustrated catalogs for its retail lines. The company also won the Premio Risultati award for Best Italian Company of the Year from the Bocconi Institute in 1996, in 1998 the Wall Street Journal called Diesel “the label of the moment”. Diesel founder Rosso began purchasing additional fashion companies in 2002, under the parent company Only The Brave, companies purchased by Only the Brave included Maison Martin Margiela, Viktor & Rolf, Marni, and licensing company Staff International. In 2005 Diesel released the book “Fifty” upon Rosso’s fiftieth birthday, Diesels denims products are produced exclusively in Italy, with much of its products produced by out-sourced factories. Its headquarters are in Breganze, and had twelve international subsidiaries as of 2005, as of 2008, the company had five thousand points of sale across eighty countries, with 270 mono-brand Diesel stores. Diesel itself owns 170 of those, with the rest owned by franchisees, turnover was over €1.3 billion in 2009, and by 2010 the company had over 400 stores
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Harlem
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Harlem is a large neighborhood in the northern section of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Since the 1920s, Harlem has been known as a major African-American residential, cultural, originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. Harlems history has been defined by a series of economic boom-and-bust cycles, African-American residents began to arrive by a lot in 1905, with numbers fed by the Great Migration. In the 1920s and 1930s, Central and West Harlem were the focus of the Harlem Renaissance, however, with job losses in the time of the Great Depression and the deindustrialization of New York City after World War II, rates of crime and poverty increased significantly. Harlems African-American population peaked in the 1950s, in the second half of the 20th century, Harlem became a major hub of African-American businesses. In 2008, the United States Census found that for the first time since the 1930s, less than half of residents were black, since New York Citys revival in the late 20th century, long-time residents of Harlem have been experiencing the effects of gentrification and new wealth. Harlem is located in Upper Manhattan, often referred to as Uptown by locals. Central Harlem is bounded by Fifth Avenue on the east, Central Park on the south, Morningside Park, St. Nicholas Avenue and Edgecombe Avenue on the west, and the Harlem River on the north. A chain of three large linear parks—Morningside Park, St. Nicholas Park and Jackie Robinson Park—are situated on steeply rising banks, on the east, Fifth Avenue and Marcus Garvey Park, also known as Mount Morris Park, separate this area from East Harlem. The bulk of the falls under Manhattan Community Board No.10. In the late 2000s, South Harlem, emerged from area redevelopment, the West Harlem neighborhoods of Manhattanville and Hamilton Heights comprise part of Manhattan Community Board No.9. The two neighborhoods area is bounded by Cathedral Parkway on the South, 155th Street on the North, nicholas/Bradhurst/Edgecome Avenues on the East, and Riverside Park/the Hudson River on the west. Morningside Heights is located in the southern most section of West Harlem, Manhattanville begins at roughly 123rd Street and extends northward to 135th Street. The northern most section of West Harlem is Hamilton Heights, the New York City Police Department patrols six precincts located within Harlem. The New York City Fire Department operates 9 firehouses in Harlem, as many as several hundred farmed the Harlem flatlands. Between 1637 and 1639, a few settlements were established, during the American Revolution, the British burned Harlem to the ground. It took a time to rebuild, as Harlem grew more slowly than the rest of Manhattan during the late 18th century. After the American Civil War, Harlem experienced an economic boom starting in 1868, the neighborhood continued to serve as a refuge for New Yorkers, but increasingly those coming north were poor and Jewish or Italian
3.
New York (state)
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New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State, two-thirds of the states population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% lives on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th-century Duke of York, the next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany. New York has a diverse geography and these more mountainous regions are bisected by two major river valleys—the north-south Hudson River Valley and the east-west Mohawk River Valley, which forms the core of the Erie Canal. Western New York is considered part of the Great Lakes Region and straddles Lake Ontario, between the two lakes lies Niagara Falls. The central part of the state is dominated by the Finger Lakes, New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. The first Europeans to arrive were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade, the British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state, New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. On April 17,1524 Verrazanno entered New York Bay, by way of the now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita. Verrazzano described it as a vast coastline with a delta in which every kind of ship could pass and he adds. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats and he landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazannos stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Marthas Vineyard, in 1540 French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany, due to flooding, it was abandoned the next year. In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse, located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange was built nearby in 1623. Henry Hudsons 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement with the area, sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year
4.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
5.
Contemporary R&B
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Contemporary R&B, also known as simply R&B, is a music genre that combines elements of rhythm and blues, soul, funk, pop, hip hop and dance. The genre features a record production style, drum machine-backed rhythms, an occasional saxophone-laced beat to give a jazz feel. Electronic influences are becoming a trend and the use of hip hop or dance-inspired beats are typical, although the roughness. Contemporary R&B vocalists are often known for their use of melisma, popularized by such as Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, Craig David, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston. That same year, Teddy Riley began producing R&B recordings that included hip hop influences and this combination of R&B style and hip hop rhythms was termed new jack swing and was applied to artists such as Bobby Brown, Keith Sweat, Al B. Guy, Jodeci and Bell Biv DeVoe, the style became less popular by the end of the 1990s, but later experienced a resurgence. In 1990 Mariah Carey released Vision of Love as her debut single and it was immensely popular peaking at number 1 in many worldwide charts including the Billboard Hot 100, and it propelled Mariahs carrier. The song is said to have popularized the use of melisma. During the mid-1990s, Whitney Houstons The Bodyguard, Original Soundtrack Album sold over 40 million copies becoming the best-selling soundtrack of all time. Janet Jacksons self-titled fifth studio album janet. which came after her historic multimillion-dollar contract with Virgin Records, sold over twenty million copies worldwide. Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey recorded several Billboard Hot 100 No.1 hits, including One Sweet Day, Carey also released a remix of her 1995 single Fantasy, with Ol Dirty Bastard as a feature, a collaboration format that was unheard of at this point. Carey, Boyz II Men and TLC released albums in 1994 and 1995—Daydream, II and CrazySexyCool. In the late 1990s, neo soul, which added 1970s soul influences to the hip hop soul blend, arose, led by such as DAngelo, Erykah Badu. Hill and Missy Elliott further blurred the line between R&B and hip hop by recording both styles, beginning in 1995, the Grammy Awards enacted the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, with II by Boyz II Men becoming the first recipient. The award was received by TLC for CrazySexyCool in 1996, Tony Rich for Words in 1997, Erykah Badu for Baduizm in 1998. At the end of 1999, Billboard magazine ranked Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson as the first, simultaneously, in the second half of the 1990s, The Neptunes and Timbaland set influential precedence on contemporary R&B and hip hop music. R&B acts such as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Usher, in 2001, Alicia Keys released Fallin as her debut single. It peaking at one on the Billboard Hot 100, Mainstream Top 40
6.
Hip hop music
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It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements, MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, break dancing, and graffiti writing. Other elements include sampling beats or bass lines from records, while often used to refer solely to rapping, hip hop more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. Hip hops early evolution occurred as sampling technology and drum machines became available and affordable. Turntablist techniques such as scratching and beatmatching developed along with the breaks and Jamaican toasting, rapping developed as a vocal style in which the artist speaks or chants along rhythmically with an instrumental or synthesized beat. The Sugarhill Gangs 1979 song Rappers Delight is widely regarded to be the first hip hop record to gain popularity in the mainstream. The 1980s marked the diversification of hip hop as the genre developed more complex styles, prior to the 1980s, hip hop music was largely confined within the United States. However, during the 1980s, it began to spread to scenes in dozens of countries. New school hip hop was the wave of hip hop music, originating in 1983–84 with the early records of Run-D. M. C. The Golden age hip hop period was a period between the mid-1980s and the early 1990s. Notable artists from this era include the Juice Crew, Public Enemy, & Rakim, Boogie Down Productions and KRS-One, EPMD, Slick Rick, Beastie Boys, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, Ultramagnetic MCs, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest. Gangsta rap is a subgenre of hip hop that often focuses on the violent lifestyles, in the West Coast hip hop style, G-funk dominated mainstream hip hop for several years during the 1990s. I. G. In the 1990s, hip hop began to diversify with other regional styles emerging, such as Southern rap, at the same time, hip hop continued to be assimilated into other genres of popular music, examples being Neo soul and nu metal. Hip hop became a pop music genre in the mid-1990s. The popularity of hip hop music continued through the 2000s, with hip hop influences also increasingly finding their way into mainstream pop, the United States also saw the success of regional styles such as crunk, a Southern genre that emphasized the beats and music more than the lyrics. Starting in 2005, sales of hip hop music in the United States began to severely wane, during the mid-2000s, alternative hip hop secured a place in the mainstream, due in part to the crossover success of artists such as OutKast and Kanye West. Creation of the hip hop is often credited to Keith Cowboy, rapper with Grandmaster Flash. However, Lovebug Starski, Keith Cowboy, and DJ Hollywood used the term when the music was known as disco rap. Cowboy later worked the hip hop cadence into a part of his stage performance, the first use of the term in print was in The Village Voice, by Steven Hager, later author of a 1984 history of hip hop
7.
Songwriter
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A songwriter is an individual who writes the lyrics, melodies and chord progressions for songs, typically for a popular music genre such as rock or country music. A songwriter can also be called a composer, although the term tends to be used mainly for individuals from the classical music genre. The pressure from the industry to produce popular hits means that songwriting is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed between a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with a gift for creating original melodies, pop songs may be written by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own publishers, while others have outside publishers. The old-style apprenticeship approach to learning how to write songs is being supplemented by university degrees and college diplomas, a knowledge of modern music technology, songwriting elements and business skills are necessary requirements to make a songwriting career in the 2010s. Several music colleges offer songwriting diplomas and degrees with music business modules, the legal power to grant these permissions may be bought, sold or transferred. This is governed by international copyright law, song pitching can be done on a songwriters behalf by their publisher or independently using tip sheets like RowFax, the MusicRow publication and SongQuarters. Skills associated with song-writing include entrepreneurism and creativity, songwriters who sign an exclusive songwriting agreement with a publisher are called staff writers. In the Nashville country music scene, there is a staff writer culture where contracted writers work normal 9-to-5 hours at the publishing office and are paid a regular salary. This salary is in effect the writers draw, an advance on future earnings, the publisher owns the copyright of songs written during the term of the agreement for a designated period, after which the songwriter can reclaim the copyright. In an interview with HitQuarters, songwriter Dave Berg extolled the benefits of the set-up, unlike contracted writers, some staff writers operate as employees for their respective publishers. Under the terms of work for hire agreements, the compositions created are fully owned by the publisher. In Nashville, young writers are often encouraged to avoid these types of contracts. Staff writers are common across the industry, but without the more office-like working arrangements favored in Nashville. All the major publishers employ writers under contract, songwriter Allan Eshuijs described his staff writer contract at Universal Music Publishing as a starter deal. His success under the arrangement eventually allowed him to found his own publishing company, so that he could. keep as much as possible, songwriters are also often skilled musicians. In addition to selling their songs and musical concepts for other artists to sing, songwriters need to create a number of elements for a song
8.
Dance
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Dance is a performance art form consisting of purposefully selected sequences of human movement. This movement has aesthetic and symbolic value, and is acknowledged as dance by performers and observers within a particular culture, Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements, or by its historical period or place of origin. Other forms of movement are sometimes said to have a dance-like quality, including martial arts, gymnastics, figure skating, synchronized swimming. Theatrical dance, also called performance or concert dance, is intended primarily as a spectacle and it often tells a story, perhaps using mime, costume and scenery, or else it may simply interpret the musical accompaniment, which is often specially composed. Examples are western ballet and modern dance, Classical Indian dance and Chinese and Japanese song, most classical forms are centred upon dance alone, but performance dance may also appear in opera and other forms of musical theatre. Such dance seldom has any narrative, a group dance and a corps de ballet, a social partner dance and a pas de deux, differ profoundly. Even a solo dance may be solely for the satisfaction of the dancer. On the other hand, some cultures lay down strict rules as to the dances in which, for example. Archeological evidence for early dance includes 9, 000-year-old paintings in India at the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka and it has been proposed that before the invention of written languages, dance was an important part of the oral and performance methods of passing stories down from generation to generation. The use of dance in trance states and healing rituals is thought to have been another early factor in the social development of dance. References to dance can be found in very early recorded history, Greek dance is referred to by Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch, the Bible and Talmud refer to many events related to dance, and contain over 30 different dance terms. In Chinese pottery as early as the Neolithic period, groups of people are depicted dancing in a line holding hands, Dance is further described in the Lüshi Chunqiu. Primitive dance in ancient China was associated with sorcery and shamanic rituals, during the first millennium BCE in India, many texts were composed which attempted to codify aspects of daily life. Bharata Munis Natyashastra is one of the earlier texts and it mainly deals with drama, in which dance plays an important part in Indian culture. It categorizes dance into four types - secular, ritual, abstract, the text elaborates various hand-gestures and classifies movements of the various limbs, steps and so on. A strong continuous tradition of dance has since continued in India, through to modern times, where it continues to play a role in culture, ritual, and, notably, the Bollywood entertainment industry. Many other contemporary dance forms can likewise be traced back to historical, traditional, ceremonial, Dance is generally, though not exclusively, performed with the accompaniment of music and may or may not be performed in time to such music. Some dance may provide its own audible accompaniment in place of music, many early forms of music and dance were created for each other and are frequently performed together
9.
Actor
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An actor is a person who portrays a character in a performance. Simplistically speaking, the person denominated actor or actress is someone beautiful who plays important characters, the actor performs in the flesh in the traditional medium of the theatre, or in modern mediums such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is ὑποκριτής, literally one who answers, the actors interpretation of their role pertains to the role played, whether based on a real person or fictional character. Interpretation occurs even when the actor is playing themselves, as in forms of experimental performance art, or, more commonly, to act, is to create. Formerly, in societies, only men could become actors. When used for the stage, women played the roles of prepubescent boys. The etymology is a derivation from actor with ess added. However, when referring to more than one performer, of both sexes, actor is preferred as a term for male performers. Actor is also used before the name of a performer as a gender-specific term. Within the profession, the re-adoption of the term dates to the 1950–1960s. As Whoopi Goldberg put it in an interview with the paper, Im an actor – I can play anything. The U. K. performers union Equity has no policy on the use of actor or actress, an Equity spokesperson said that the union does not believe that there is a consensus on the matter and stated that the. subject divides the profession. In 2009, the Los Angeles Times stated that Actress remains the term used in major acting awards given to female recipients. However, player remains in use in the theatre, often incorporated into the name of a group or company, such as the American Players. Also, actors in improvisational theatre may be referred to as players, prior to Thespis act, Grecian stories were only expressed in song, dance, and in third person narrative. In honor of Thespis, actors are commonly called Thespians, the exclusively male actors in the theatre of ancient Greece performed in three types of drama, tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play. Western theatre developed and expanded considerably under the Romans, as the Western Roman Empire fell into decay through the 4th and 5th centuries, the seat of Roman power shifted to Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire. Records show that mime, pantomime, scenes or recitations from tragedies and comedies, dances, from the 5th century, Western Europe was plunged into a period of general disorder
10.
Model (person)
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A model is a person with a role either to promote, display, or advertise commercial products or to serve as a visual aide for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Modelling is considered to be different from other types of public performance, although the difference between modelling and performing is not always clear, appearing in a film or a play is not generally considered to be modelling. Types of modelling include, fashion, glamour, fitness, bikini, fine art, body-part, Models are featured in a variety of media formats including, books, magazines, films, newspapers, internet and TV. Fashion models are featured in films, reality TV shows. Celebrities, including actors, singers, sports personalities and reality TV stars, modelling as a profession was first established in 1853 by Charles Frederick Worth, the father of haute couture, when he asked his wife, Marie Vernet Worth, to model the clothes he designed. The term house model was coined to describe this type of work, eventually, this became common practice for Parisian fashion houses. There were no standard physical measurement requirements for a model, with the development of fashion photography, the modelling profession expanded to photo modelling. Models remained fairly anonymous, and relatively poorly paid, until the late 1950s, one of the first well-known models was Lisa Fonssagrives, who was very popular in the 1930s. Fonssagrives appeared on over 200 Vogue covers, and her name recognition led to the importance of Vogue in shaping the careers of fashion models. In 1946, Ford Models was established by Eileen and Gerard Ford in New York, one of the most popular models during the 1940s was Jinx Falkenburg who was paid $25 per hour, a large sum at the time. During the 1940s and 1950s, Wilhelmina Cooper, Jean Patchett, Dovima, Dorian Leigh, Suzy Parker, Evelyn Tripp, Carmen DellOrefice, dorothea Church was among the first black models in the industry to gain notoriety in Paris. However, these models were unknown outside the fashion community, compared to todays models, the models of the 1950s were more voluptuous. Wilhelmina Coopers measurements were 38-24-36 whereas Chanel Imans measurements are 32-23-33, in the 1960s, the modelling world began to establish modelling agencies. Throughout Europe, secretarial services acted as models agents charging them weekly rates for their messages, for the most part, models were responsible for their own billing. In Germany, agents were not allowed to work for a percentage of a persons earnings, with the exception of a few models travelling to Paris or New York, travelling was relatively unheard of for a model. Most models only worked in one market due to different labor laws governing modelling in various countries, in the 1960s, Italy had many fashion houses and fashion magazines but was in dire need of models. Italian agencies would often coerce models to return to Italy without work visas by withholding their pay and they would also pay their models in cash, which models would have to hide from customs agents. It was not uncommon for models staying in such as La Louisiana in Paris or the Arena in Milan to have their hotel rooms raided by the police looking for their work visas
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Def Jam Recordings
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Def Jam Recordings is an American record label, focused predominantly on hip hop and urban music, owned by Universal Music Group. In the UK, the takes on the name Def Jam UK and is operated through Virgin EMI, while in Japan. The label distributes various record labels, including Kanye Wests GOOD Music, Ludacris Disturbing Tha Peace, Def Jam was founded by Rick Rubin in his dormitory in Weinstein Hall at New York University and its first release was a single by his punk-rock group Hose. Russell Simmons joined Rubin shortly after they were introduced to other, according to one story. Another cites DJ Jazzy Jay as their connector, Rubin has said he met Simmons on the TV show, Graffiti Rock and recognized him then as the face of hip hop, He was five years older than me, and he was already established in the music business. And I had no experience whatsoever, the first single released with the Def Jam Recordings logo was T La Rock & Jazzy Jays Its Yours. The first releases with Def Jam Recordings catalog numbers were LL Cool Js I Need a Beat, the singles sold well, eventually leading to a distribution deal with CBS Records through Columbia Records the following year. A few years later, Russell Simmons and Lyor Cohen started a label called Rush Associated Labels to handle Def Jam. RAL became the home to Nice & Smooth and EPMD after both acts were acquired due to the folding of their former label Sleeping Bag Records, other acts under the RAL umbrella included Redman, Onyx, Flatlinerz, Domino, Warren G and Jayo Felony. As the decade drew to a close, the label signed Public Enemy, Lyor Cohen became president of Def Jam/RAL in 1988, after winning a power struggle with Rubin, who would shortly thereafter leave the company to form Def American Recordings. Rubin would take Slayer with him to Def American in its initial stages, by 1992, despite recent multi-platinum selling releases from Public Enemy, and EPMD, Def Jam ran into severe financial troubles and was faced with folding. However, in 1994, PolyGram purchased Sonys 50% stake in Def Jam Recordings — subsequently bringing the label into its fold, following PolyGrams purchase, Def Jam distributed the Violator Records-signed artist Warren Gs Regulate. G Funk Era album, which went triple platinum and brought much-needed revenue to Def Jam through its distribution deal with Violator, PolyGram acquired an additional 10% in Def Jam Recordings in 1996, further strengthening its ownership of Def Jam. Shortly thereafter, Rush Associated Labels was renamed Def Jam Music Group, the label remained profitable as its veteran star LL Cool J released his successful album Mr. Smith in 1995. The label later signed Foxy Brown, whose debut album Ill Na Na became a seller in 1997. In 1998, PolyGram was purchased by Seagram and merged with the MCA family of labels and it then purchased the remaining interest of Def Jam Recordings from Russell Simmons for a reported $100 million. UMG merged 14+ record labels including, Def Jam, Island Records, despite the formation of IDJMG, the Def Jam, Mercury, and Island labels continued to operate as separate imprints underneath the bigger umbrella. Lyor Cohen was appointed co-president of IDJMG, and Kevin Liles succeeded him as president of Def Jam, Def Soul also issued recordings by Musiq, Montell Jordan, Case,112, Patti LaBelle, and Christina Milian
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GOOD Music
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GOOD Music, Inc. is an American record label founded in 2004, by hip hop artist and record producer Kanye West. The label has housed several successful recording artists throughout the years, such as Big Sean, Pusha T, Common, John Legend, Tyga, Kid Cudi, Desiigner, Teyana Taylor and Mos Def, among others. Their roster of producers include Travis Scott, Southside, Hit-Boy, Hudson Mohawke, Q-Tip, Jeff Bhasker. The label has released 10 albums certified gold or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America, Kanye West founded GOOD Music in 2004, in conjunction with Sony BMG, shortly after releasing his debut album, The College Dropout. John Legend, Common, and West were the labels inaugural artists, legends Get Lifted was the labels first album release - this received eight nominations and three wins at the 2006 Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist and Best R&B Album. In October 2006, Legend released his album, Once Again. Commons Be, the second release, was the recipient of four Grammy Award nominations. The label later added GLC, Really Doe, Malik Yusef, Tony Williams, Wests second studio album, Late Registration, included featured guest appearances by every artist signed to GOOD Musics roster at the time of its release in August 2005. In May 2007, Detroit rapper Big Sean signed to the label, in 2008, West signed British singer-songwriter Mr Hudson, after hearing A Tale of Two Cities. He also signed then up-and-coming rapper Kid Cudi, after hearing his work from producer and manager Plain Pat. Kid Cudis debut album, Man on the Moon, The End of Day was released under GOOD Music on September 15,2009, the album earned three Grammy nominations and was certified Gold by the RIAA. A month later Mr Hudsons solo debut, Straight No Chaser, was released, the label held a cypher for the 2010 BET Hip Hop Awards in June, that featured West, Common, Big Sean and new signee Cyhi the Prynce. In late 2010, West released several tracks featuring himself, and others members of the GOOD Music roster, in a free weekly giveaway known as, G. O. O. D. In September 2010, West signed Brooklyn rapper Mos Def to GOOD Music. and shortly afterwards Consequence released a diss track, the following month Pusha T announced his signing. Late in 2010, Kid Cudi released his studio album Man on the Moon II, The Legend of Mr. Rager. In April 2011, West signed American rapper and producer Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest, Kanye West also signed producer Hit-Boy, to Very G. O. O. D. In 2011, West signed Nigerian artists Dbanj and Don Jazzy, in June 2011, GOOD Music signed their first distribution agreement, with Def Jam Recordings. Big Seans debut Finally Famous was the first album released by GOOD Music with distribution by Def Jam, in late 2011, plans were announced for a release of a compilation album, later entitled Cruel Summer
13.
Interscope Records
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Interscope Records is an American record company. At the time, it differed from most record companies by giving decision-making authority to its A&R staff and it had its first hit records less than a year after it was founded and achieved profitability in 1993. In 1992, Interscope acquired the rights to market and distribute the hardcore rap label Death Row. Albums by Death Row artists included rappers Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, as a result, Time Warner severed ties with Interscope by selling its 50 percent stake back to Field and Iovine for $115 million in 1995. In 1996, 50% of the label was acquired by the MCA Music Entertainment Group for a reported $200 million, Iovine served as chairman and CEO until May 2014. He was succeeded by John Janick, Interscope is headquartered in Santa Monica, California. The labels best-selling artists include U2, Eminem, Lady Gaga, in 1989, Ted Field began to build Interscope Records as a division of his film company, Interscope Communications. To run it, he hired John McClain, who had played a role in Janet Jacksons success at A&M Records, and Tom Whalley. Separately, Iovine, who had produced records by U2, Bruce Springsteen, I thought, Music is going to change, Iovine said in 1997. Young bands arent going to be asking for me, but I love working with the new thing. I always liked the part of the business thats the first time you hear something, Iovine and Field were introduced by Paul McGuinness, then U2s manager. After a series of negotiations led by David Geffen, they came to an agreement, in a 1997 article in Rolling Stone, David Wild wrote, Interscopes start-up coincided with a period of incredible change in the music world. Nirvana had ushered in the alternative revolution, based in Westwood, California, Interscope was run by music men. It was a departure from the industry practices of the 1970s and 1980s. A founding tenet of the label was that artists would have creative control. Interscopes first release was Rico Suave by Ecuadoran rapper Gerardo in December 1990, Primus Interscope debut was released in May, followed by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunchs Music for the People in July. It included the #1 single Good Vibrations, two days after first hearing his demo, Whalley signed Tupac Shakur, and in November 1991, Interscope released 2pacalypse Now, Shakurs studio debut. Interscope began to develop a significant presence in the genre in 1992
14.
Star Trak Entertainment
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Star Trak is an American record label, founded by record producers The Neptunes in 2001. It operated as a division of Interscope-Geffen-A&M, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, Star Trak was formed in 2001 by The Neptunes. The label was partially funded by Arista Records in a joint-venture, Pharrell would sign longtime friends, The Clipse. Their debut album, Lord Willin, was released in 2002 led by the hits, Grindin, after the success of the album, the label would sign Kelis, Vanessa Marquez, Fam-Lay, N. E. R. D. & pop rock band Spymob, who provided backing instruments for N. E. R. Ds debut album In Search Of, the label released a compilation album during the summer of 2003, entitled, The Neptunes Present. In late 2003, Star Trak Entertainment released the successful album, Tasty. In early 2004, distributor Arista Records dropped their imprint Star Trak Entertainment, the first release from this deal was Fly or Die by N. E. R. D. In mid-2004, Star Trak signed EMI cousin label, Doggystyle Records to a distribution deal & soared to new heights behind veteran Doggystyle Records rapper, a few months later, Star Trak Entertainment left EMIs Virgin Records before completing a year with the label. They ended up moving operations over to Geffen Records and Interscope Records, here, they would release Snoop Doggs album, R&G, The Masterpiece. The album was led by Drop It Like Its Hot, which would be yet another hit single for the fledgling label and this album would go Platinum in the US like some other Star Trak Entertainment releases. It also had other hit singles. This album would give Star Trak Entertainment yet another hit, Like A Boss, during this time, the label added Kenna and Robin Thicke to their roster. The label has been under scrutiny for poor management which led to its decline. In 2006, CEO Pharrell released his solo album, In My Mind. The album provided two hits for the label and capitalized what is the Neptunes sound. These singles were Can I Have It Like That, with Gwen Stefani, other releases in 2006 were Robin Thickes second album, The Evolution of Robin Thicke, which featured the hit, Lost Without U. The last 2006 release was Clipses second album, Hell Hath No Fury and this was their first release through their Re-Up Records imprint. Star Trak Entertainment has since signed Teyana Taylor to their roster, along with Chester French, Natasha Ramos, Epoch When, in 2007, Kenna released his album, Make Sure They See My Face
15.
Fabolous
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John David Jackson, better known by his stage name Fabolous, is an American hip hop recording artist from Brooklyn, New York City. Jacksons career began when he was a senior in school and ended up rapping live on American record producer and music executive DJ Clues radio show. Jackson was subsequently signed by DJ Clue to his label Desert Storm, Fabolous first release, Ghetto Fabolous, spawned the hit singles Cant Deny It and Youngn, which led Jackson to prominence. His second release was 2003s Street Dreams, which was supported by two Top 10 singles Cant Let You Go and Into You. Aside from the songs, Jackson has released a string of hit singles, such as Trade It All, Pt.2, Breathe, Make Me Better, Baby Dont Go, Throw It in the Bag. He is also known for appearing on several R&B singles, including Superwoman Pt, in 2004, Jackson signed to Atlantic Records, after leaving Elektra, where he released Real Talk, his first and only album under Atlantic. In 2006, Jackson was let out of his contract with Atlantic, also in 2006, Jackson founded his own record label, Street Family Records. In 2007, he released From Nothin to Somethin, under Def Jam, in 2009, he would go on to release his fifth album, Losos Way. Throughout the years Jackson has released mixtapes, including several installments of his highly acclaimed There Is No Competition series. He released his album, The Young OG Project, in 2014. Fabolous has a current net worth of $23 million that has accumulated mostly from his music career. Fabolous was born John David Jackson on November 18,1977 and is of Dominican and African American descent and he grew up in Breevort Houses in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York City. While in his year of high school, Fabolous began to pursue a career in hip hop music. He was invited to rap live on American record producer and music executive DJ Clues radio show, DJ Clue subsequently signed Fabolous to his record label, Desert Storm Records. Fabolous was then featured on several DJ Clue mixtapes, as well as mixtapes with Roc-A-Fella artists and this earned Fabolous and Desert Storm a distribution deal with Elektra Records. In a September 6,2001 interview with Hot104. com, Fabolous said he never planned on becoming a rapper and told the website, I was just trying to make some money, I got tired of being broke. This was something where I could make some money, Fabolous released his debut album, Ghetto Fabolous, on September 11,2001. It debuted at four on the Billboard 200, selling over 143,000 copies in its first week
16.
Iman Shumpert
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Iman Asante Shumpert is an American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association. Shumpert was selected by the New York Knicks with the 17th overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft, Shumpert won an NBA championship with the Cavaliers in 2016. In eighth grade, Shumpert and fellow NBA player Evan Turner were teammates on the basketball team at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School in Oak Park. He went on to attend Oak Park and River Forest High School where he was a first team player and was one of the nations top 30 seniors. He helped Oak Park and River Forest to three titles and was named conference MVP as a junior and senior. He was rated No.15 among the senior players by Scout. com. He was also selected to play in the 2008 McDonalds All-American Game, as a freshman for Georgia Tech in 2008–09, Shumpert was the teams fourth-leading scorer for the season, averaging 10.5 points per game and hitting 34.5 percent of his three-point attempts. During the 2009–10 season, Shumpert underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a damaged meniscus in his knee on December 3. He went on to finish the season as the teams third-leading scorer with 10.0 points per game, in the 2010–11 season, Shumpert led his team in scoring, rebounding and assists, becoming only the seventh player in ACC history to do so. He ranked fourth in the ACC in scoring, 15th in rebounds, 10th in field goal and free throw percentage and he was named to the All-ACC second team and was a member of the conferences all-defensive team. He also holds the Georgia Tech record for steals per game, on March 28,2011, Shumpert declared for the NBA draft, foregoing his final year of college eligibility. Shumpert was drafted with the 17th overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft by the New York Knicks, in February 2012, then teammate Jared Jeffries said that hes about as good an on-ball defender as there is in the league right now. Shumpert was selected to compete in the 2012 NBA All-Star Weekend Slam Dunk Contest but was unable to due to a knee injury. On April 28,2012, during a first round game against the Miami Heat. An MRI later revealed that Shumpert tore the ACL and meniscus in his left knee, Shumpert finished 5th in the 2012 NBA Rookie of the Year voting. He received 33 total votes and one vote from a ballot that was filled out by 120 writers and broadcasters from across the country. He was also the rookie to receive votes for the Defensive Player of the Year award. On January 13,2013, Shumpert was medically cleared to participate in team practice and he made his season debut on January 17 in a game against the Detroit Pistons at The O2 Arena in London
17.
Kanye West
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Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, fashion designer, and entrepreneur. Intent on pursuing a career as a rapper, West released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004 to widespread critical and commercial success. He went on to pursue a variety of different styles on subsequent albums Late Registration, Graduation, and 808s & Heartbreak. In 2010, he released his fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy to rave reviews from critics, West released his abrasive sixth album, Yeezus, to further critical praise in 2013. His seventh album, The Life of Pablo, was released in 2016, Wests outspoken views and life outside of music have received significant mainstream attention. He has been a frequent source of controversy for his conduct at award shows, on social media and he is the founder and head of the creative content company DONDA. His 2014 marriage to television personality Kim Kardashian has also been subject to media coverage. He has won a total of 21 Grammy Awards, making him one of the most awarded artists of all time, three of his albums have been included and ranked on Rolling Stones 2012 update of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. He has also included in a number of Forbes annual lists. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005 and 2015, West was born on June 8,1977 in Atlanta, Georgia. His parents divorced when he was three years old, after the divorce, he and his mother moved to Chicago, Illinois. His father, Ray West, is a former Black Panther and was one of the first black photojournalists at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Ray West was later a Christian counselor, and in 2006, opened the Good Water Store and Café in Lexington Park, Maryland with startup capital from his son. West, was a professor of English at Clark Atlanta University, West was raised in a middle-class background, attending Polaris High School in suburban Oak Lawn, Illinois after living in Chicago. At the age of 10, West moved with his mother to Nanjing, China, according to his mother, West was the only foreigner in his class, but settled in well and quickly picked up the language, although he has since forgotten most of it. When asked about his grades in school, West replied, I got As. West demonstrated an affinity for the arts at an early age and his mother recalled that she first took notice of Wests passion for drawing and music when he was in the third grade. Growing up in Chicago, West became deeply involved in its hip hop scene and he started rapping in the third grade and began making musical compositions in the seventh grade, eventually selling them to other artists
18.
Pharrell Williams
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Pharrell Lanscilo Williams is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, and film producer. Williams and Chad Hugo make up the production duo The Neptunes, producing soul, hip hop. He is the lead vocalist and drummer of the rock-funk-hip hop band N*E*R*D and he released his first single, Frontin, in 2003 and followed up with his debut solo album, In My Mind in 2006. His second album, Girl, was released on March 3,2014 and this album was preceded by the commercially successful single, Happy. As part of the Neptunes, Williams has produced hit singles for various recording artists. Williams has earned ten Grammy Awards including two with the Neptunes and he is also a two-time Academy Award nominee, receiving a 2014 Best Original Song nomination from Happy and a 2017 Best Picture nomination as one of the producers of Hidden Figures. Williams was born on April 5,1973, in Virginia Beach, Virginia and his roots extend for generations in Virginia and North Carolina, and one of his ancestors journeyed to West Africa in 1831, prompting other relatives to emigrate from America to Liberia in 1832. He met Chad Hugo in a summer band camp where Williams played the keyboards and drums. They were also members of a marching band, Williams played the snare drum while Hugo was drum major. Williams and Hugo attended Princess Anne High School where he played in the school band, in the MTV show When I Was 17, Pharrell stated that he was a nerd and often did things that made him stand out from most of his peers. In the early 1990s, Hugo and Williams formed a four-piece R&B-type group and they later entered a high school talent show where they were discovered by Teddy Riley, whose studio was next to Princess Anne High School. After graduating from school, the group signed with Riley. Through working with Riley, Williams went on to write a verse and that same year, he also performed a small rap solo on SWVs second hit, Right Here. Williams and Hugo met rap duo Clipse in Virginia Beach in 1993, in 1994, Hugo and Williams had established themselves as a production duo under their old name The Neptunes, and assistant-produced Tonights The Night from Blackstreets self-titled album. Over the next three years continued to produce occasionally, and some of the results had little resemblance to the Neptunes sound later. In 1999, a friend introduced Williams to Kelis. At this point the Neptunes were gaining a fanbase and audience. In 2000, they produced the song I Just Wanna Love U for Jay Zs album The Dynasty, Roc La Familia, the songs sound and success sparked the interest of maturing pop artist Britney Spears
19.
MTV
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MTV is an American cable and satellite television channel owned by Viacom Media Networks and headquartered in New York City. Launched on August 1,1981, the originally aired music videos as guided by television personalities known as video jockeys. In its early years, MTVs main target demographic was young adults and it has received criticism towards this change of focus, both by certain segments of its audience and musicians. MTVs influence on its audience, including issues involving censorship and social activism, has also been a subject of debate for several years, in recent years, MTV had struggled with the secular decline of music-related cable media. In April 2016, MTV announced it would start to return to its original music roots with the reintroduction of the classic MTV series MTV Unplugged. It was also reported that the series MTV Cribs would be making a return on Snapchat, MTV has spawned numerous sister channels in the US and affiliated channels internationally, some of which have gone independent. As of July 2015, approximately 92,188,000 US households have received MTV, several earlier concepts for music video-based television programming had been around since the early 1960s. The Beatles had used music videos to promote their records starting in the mid-1960s, CBS rejected the idea, but Williams premiered his own musical composition Classical Gas on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, where he was head writer. The series featured clips from various popular artists, but was canceled by its distributor in 1971. The channel, which featured video disc jockeys, signed a deal with US Cable in 1978 to expand its audience from retail to cable television, the service was no longer active by the time MTV launched in 1981. The QUBE system offered many specialized channels, One of these specialized channels was Sight on Sound, a music channel that featured concert footage and music-oriented television programs. With the interactive QUBE service, viewers could vote for their favorite songs, the original programming format of MTV was created by media executive Robert W. Pittman, who later became president and chief executive officer of MTV Networks. Pittman had test-driven the music format by producing and hosting a 15-minute show, Album Tracks, the inspiration for PopClips came from a similar program on New Zealands TVNZ network named Radio with Pictures, which premiered in 1976. The concept itself had been in the works since 1966, when record companies began supplying the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation with promotional music clips to play on the air at no charge. Few artists made the trip to New Zealand to appear live. A shortened version of the shuttle launch ID ran at the top of hour in various forms. The first music video shown on MTV was The Buggles Video Killed the Radio Star and this was followed by the video for Pat Benatars You Better Run. Sporadically, the screen would go black when an employee at MTV inserted a tape into a VCR, MTVs lower third graphics that appeared near the beginning and end of music videos would eventually use the recognizable Kabel typeface for about 25 years
20.
My Super Sweet 16
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My Super Sweet 16 is an MTV reality TV series documenting the lives of teenagers, usually in the United States, Canada and UK, generally with wealthy parents who throw huge coming of age celebrations. Parties include the quinceañera, the sweet 16, and other birthdays including a My Super Sweet 21, the show premiered on January 18,2005 and ended its run on June 15,2008. The opening theme is Sweet Sixteen sung by Hilary Duff, the show has also covered a number of celebrity coming of age parties. Bow Wow, Sean Kingston, Aly and AJ, Chris Brown, Soulja Boy Tell Em, a United Kingdom version of the program was also produced, and also a Spanish version entitled Quiero mis quinces or Super Dulces 16 produced by MTV. In 2008, MTV launched a spinoff titled Exiled, on the show, a number of parents of participants on My Super Sweet 16 banish their teens to remote countries in order to see if their sweet sixteener will survive the harsh conditions. In March 2010, MTV International commissioned Maverick TV in the UK to make a new, casting has begun globally on a series of 10 episodes, and interested parties are encouraged to go to the casting website. The brand has been extended to people having birthdays aged 13–24. The series has ended its run. Bobcat Goldthwait noted that watching the My Super Sweet 16 marathon inspired him to write his controversial film God Bless America, prior to attaining stardom in film, Jennifer Lawrence made her on-screen acting debut in an advertisement for the series depicting a fictional scenario. MTVs Mysupersweet16. com is the component of MTVs eponymous show which focuses on extravagant coming outs, sweet 16s, Quinceañeras. The show has been criticised for its excesses and the effects of presenting such over the top parties as a norm to impressionable young people. English satirist Charlie Brooker gave a light-hearted criticism of the show on BBC4s Screenwipe and he said the show might be an Al-Qaeda recruitment film. However, he added that thats exactly how the show wants you to feel - its even more effective at creating instant hate figures than Big Brother, and thats saying something. One teenager is seen screaming at her mother and saying she hates her after having received a new Lexus SC430, costing US$67,000, however, after the episode aired, she apologized for the tantrum. Hip-Hop artist Common made reference to the show as well as Exiled in a line from his single The Game, Watching Sweet Sixteen, in the film Bratz, a character named Meredith throws a Super Sweet 16 Party, and has MTV film it. The show was parodied on an episode of Comedy Centrals South Park, Satan was intent on throwing an over-the-top Halloween bash. His behavior reflected that of the sweet 16ers preparing for their coming-of-age birthdays, in the end, when Satan realizes his folly, the audience considers the sweet 16ers to be worse than Satan. Trey Parker further commented, I can say. every single girl that has been on that show, in 2016, on the occasion of his 60th birthday, US actor Bryan Cranston featured in a parody titled My Super Sweet 60 for the Jimmy Kimmel Live
21.
Usher (musician)
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Usher Raymond IV is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. Born in Dallas, Texas but raised and lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee until moving to Atlanta, at the age of 12, his mother put him in local singing competitions, before catching the attention of a music A&R from LaFace Records. In 1994 he released his debut album, Usher. 8701 produced the number-one singles U Remind Me and U Got It Bad and it sold 8 million copies worldwide and won his first two Grammy Awards as Best Male R&B Vocal Performance in 2002 and 2003. Confessions established him as one of the musical artists of the 2000s decade. Bolstered by its four consecutive Billboard Hot 100 number one singles, Burn, Confessions Part II, and My Boo, it has been certified Diamond by the RIAA. Here I Stand and Raymond v. Raymond, debuted atop of the Billboard 200, the EP, Versus, also produced the Hot 100 top-five single DJ Got Us Fallin in Love. Looking 4 Myself, also debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart, Raymond v. Raymond and Looking 4 Myself received Grammy Awards for R&B singles There Goes My Baby and Climax. Hard II Love peaked at five of the Billboard 200 albums chart. Usher has sold 23.8 million albums and 38.2 million digital songs in the United States, to date, his worldwide sales stand at 43 million albums and 75 million records overall, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Usher has won awards and accolades including 18 Billboard Music Awards and 8 Grammy Awards. Billboard also placed him at number 6 on their list of Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years, Usher has attained 9 US Hot 100 number-one singles. Considered an icon and sex symbol, he was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, in 2008, he started his own record label Raymond-Braun Media Group, a joint venture with talent manager Scooter Braun that includes Canadian singer Justin Bieber. Usher was born in Dallas, Texas, the son of Jonetta Patton, from Tennessee, Usher spent the majority of his young life in Chattanooga, his father left the family when Usher was a year old. Usher grew up with his mother, then-stepfather, and half-brother, while in Atlanta, Usher attended North Springs High School. At age 10, Usher joined an R&B local quintet called the NuBeginnings, Usher recorded 10 songs with the group in 1991, and the ensuing album, Nubeginning Featuring Usher Raymond IV, was only made available regionally and by mail order. However, Patton took him out because, according to her, the album was re-released nationally in April 2002 by Hip-O Records. At age 13, Usher would meet A. J, alexander at local talent show in Atlanta
22.
Chris Brown
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Christopher Maurice Chris Brown is an American singer, songwriter, and dancer. Born in Tappahannock, Virginia, he was involved in his church choir, having signed with Jive Records in 2004, Brown released his self-titled debut studio album the following year. It peaked at two on the US Billboard 200 and was later certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. With his first single Run It, peaking atop the US Billboard Hot 100, Brown became the first male artist as a lead since Diddy in 1997 to have his debut single top the chart. His second album Exclusive spawned his second Hot 100 number one Kiss Kiss, in addition to With You, the album was also certified double platinum by the RIAA. The songs have peaked at three, number nine and number ten on the US Billboard Hot 100 respectively. His third album Graffiti was released later that year, and included the top-twenty single I Can Transform Ya, became his first to top the Billboard 200, it spawned the singles Yeah 3x, Look at Me Now, and Beautiful People. Earned Brown his first Grammy Award for Best R&B Album at the 54th Grammy Awards and his fifth album Fortune was released in 2012. However, after the release of Exclusive, Browns albums have not been well received commercially or by critics, with the exception of X. Browns seventh studio album Royalty was released on December 18,2015, apart from his work in the music industry, Brown has pursued an acting career. In 2007, he made his feature film debut in Stomp the Yard. Other films Brown has appeared in, include This Christmas, Takers, Think Like a Man, throughout his career, Brown has won several awards, including 14 BET Awards,5 Billboard Music Awards, and 3 Soul Train Music Awards. According to Billboard, Brown has the seventh most Hot 100 entries on the chart with 82 and he has an older sister, Lytrell Bundy, who works in a bank. Music was always present in Browns life beginning in his childhood and he would listen to soul albums that his parents owned, and eventually began to show interest in the hip-hop scene. He is African American, and has said that he has Pamunkey Native American ancestry. Brown taught himself to sing and dance at a young age and he began to perform in his church choir and in several local talent shows. When he mimicked an Usher performance of My Way, his mother recognized his vocal talent, at the same time, Brown was going through personal issues. His parents had divorced, and his mothers boyfriend terrified him by subjecting her to domestic violence, at age 13, Brown was discovered by Hitmission Records, a local production team that visited his fathers gas station while searching for new talent
23.
Omarion
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Omari Ishmael Grandberry, better known as Omarion, is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actor and dancer. He is best known as being the singer of the American R&B boy band B2K, the group achieved success with singles like Bump, Bump, Bump. His second solo album,21, contained his single to date, Ice Box. His third solo album, Ollusion, was released on January 12,2010, with the lead single, I Get It In. His fourth solo album, Sex Playlist, spawned the single, Post to Be, Omarion also ventured into acting, with appearances in films such as You Got Served, Fat Albert, Somebody Help Me and The Proud Family Movie. Born in Inglewood, California, to Leslie Burrell and Trent Grandberry, at school he played on the football team and was also known for his quirky dance moves. Although he dropped out of school midway, Omarion began to perform at age five, before he made it into the music business, he was in commercials for Kelloggs Corn Pops and McDonalds. He also made cameos in the R&B girl group Before Darks music videos, the smooth harmony singing that formed an integral part of the band B2K, helped him establish a solo career. His younger brother ORyan is also a singer, in early 2004, Omarion appeared in several films, most notably You Got Served in which he starred alongside Marques Houston, as well as his former B2K band mates. The movie centered on a group of friends in a hip hop dance crew who take part in dance competitions. That same year, he played the role of the school bully Reggie in the comedy Fat Albert, based on the animated series Fat Albert, on February 22,2005, Omarion released his debut solo album O. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts, the first single from the album was O. The single peaked at #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the second single Touch, peaked at #94 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album received a third and final release with, Im Tryna, O has sold over 758,000 copies in the United States since its release. Omarion received a Grammy nomination for the album at the 48th Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary R&B Album, on December 26,2006 Omarion released his second album 21. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts, the first single from the album was Entourage. The second single Ice Box, produced by Timbaland, peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is Omarions most successful single to date. 21 has sold over 390,000 copies in the United States since its release, towards the end of 2007, he displayed his acting skills in the thriller Somebody Help Me
24.
Runway (fashion)
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In fashion jargon, whats on the catwalk or similar phrasing can refer to whatever is new and popular in fashion. A runway could be as basic as a space between rows of chairs or more elaborate setups with multiple catwalks. Most runway shows are held inside, for shelter against the weather, in the 2016 Paris Fashion Week, Chanel presented an elaborate setup by designing the hall as if it were an airport. The viewing guests sat as if they were awaiting their flights while the models walked around the airport approaching ticket counters, when a model scores an exclusive for a fashion label it means that they have been picked to walk for that particular designer only. This usually launches their career and elevates their status in the fashion industry, Fashion week Hanamichi Media related to Catwalk at Wikimedia Commons
25.
Fashion week
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A fashion week is a fashion industry event, lasting approximately one week, wherein fashion designers, brands or houses display their latest collections in runway shows to buyers and the media. These events influence trends for the current and upcoming seasons, the most prominent fashion weeks are held in the fashion capitals of the world, the Big Four receiving the majority of press coverage being New York, London, Milan, and Paris. While the fashion scene turns more multipolar in the 21st century, other centers like Berlin, Los Angeles, Madrid, Rome, São Paulo, Shanghai and Tokyo host important fashion weeks. The concept of fashion began in Paris, when marketers would hire women to wear couture items in public places. These parades gradually began to become social events of their own, in 1903, a New York City shop called Ehrich Brothers put on what is thought to have been the country’s first fashion show to lure middle-class females into the store. By 1910, many big department stores were holding shows of their own and it is likely that American retailers saw what were called fashion parades in couture salons, and decided to use the idea. These parades were a way to promote stores, and improved their status. By the 1920s, the show had been used by retailers up. They were staged, and often held in the restaurant during lunch or teatime. These shows were more theatrical than those of today, heavily based upon a single theme. The shows were popular, enticing crowds in their thousands – crowds so large. This was a moment, as before World War II. The fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert organized an event she called Press Week to showcase American designers for fashion journalists, Press Week was a success, and, as a result, magazines like Vogue began to feature more and more American innovations. Until 1994, shows were held in different locations, such as hotels and this was the first time shows were organized into a set period of time. Although these key organizations still organize most shows, there are independents and multiple producers in all cities, although there are many notable fashion weeks around the world, only four are known as the Big Four, Paris, Milan, London and New York. There are primarily two kinds of shows, womenswear and menswear, there are also shows particular to each location. For example, there are haute couture shows in Paris, and in New York, there are resort / cruise, womenswear shows are held in February and September/October, in the following order, New York, London, Milan and Paris. Menswear fashion weeks are held in January and June/July, in the order, London, Milan, Paris
26.
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
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My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is the fifth studio album by American hip hop rapper and producer Kanye West. Following a period of public and legal controversy, West retreated to an exile in Hawaii in 2009. There, he worked on the album in a communal recording environment that involved numerous contributing musicians, the album features guest appearances from Bon Iver, Jay Z, Pusha T, Rick Ross, Kid Cudi, Nicki Minaj, John Legend and more. Production is led by West himself, alongside a variety of record producers including Mike Dean. Jeff Bhasker, RZA, S1, Bink and DJ Frank E, the album deals with themes of excess and celebrity, and explores such issues as consumer culture, race, and the idealism of the American Dream. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was released on November 22,2010, to promote the album, West released free songs through his GOOD Fridays series and four singles, the Billboard hits Power, Monster, and Runaway, and the international hit All of the Lights. It was also promoted with a film set to the records music. The album debuted at one on the Billboard 200 and eventually sold 1,032,000 copies in the United States. A widespread critical success, it was named the best record of 2010 by many publications and has appeared on several lists ranking the greatest albums of all time. The album was conceived during Wests self-imposed exile in Oahu, Hawaii, following a period of legal and public image controversy amid an overworked mental state. West later said that his fatigue from overworking led to his controversial outburst at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, his disgust with its ensuing media response and it was formerly known as Good Ass Job and tentatively Dark Twisted Fantasy. GOOD Music artist Big Sean was the second to announce the title of the album as Good Ass Job, on July 24,2010, on Kanye Wests blog, a banner appeared reading My Dark Twisted Fantasy Trailer. On July 28,2010, West announced via his new official Twitter account that The album is no longer called Good Ass Job Im bouncing a couple of titles around now, the official title, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, was announced on October 5,2010. It was reported that West spent over $3 million in expenses from his record label Def Jam on the recording. Drake, Common, Jay-Z, Eminem, Lil Wayne, John Legend, Fergie, Rihanna, The-Dream, Ryan Leslie, Elton John, Justin Vernon, Seal, Beyoncé, Kid Cudi, Mos Def, Santigold, Alicia Keys, Elly Jackson, and Tony Williams. Record producers who participated in the sessions with West included Q-Tip, RZA, DJ Premier, Madlib, Madlib said he made five beats for the album, while DJ Premier said his beats were ultimately discarded. West, who had recorded at Avex for 808s & Heartbreak. According to Noah Callahan-Bever, who visited West during the recording sessions and he heads to another studio room to make progress on another song
27.
VH1
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VH1 is an American cable television network based in New York City that is owned by the Viacom Global Entertainment Group, a unit of Viacom Media Networks. The channel was first launched on January 1,1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting Systems short-lived Cable Music Channel and it was originally created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communications and the original owner of MTV. As of February 2015, approximately 92.6 million US households receive VH1, also frequently featured in the networks early years were videos for Motown and other 60s oldies consisting of newsreel and concert footage. It was introduced on January 1,1985 with the performance of The Star-Spangled Banner by Marvin Gaye. From the start, Video Hits One was branded as a version of its sister/parent channel. It played more jazz and R&B artists than MTV and had a rotation of urban-contemporary performers. Its early on-camera personalities were New York radio veterans Don Imus, Frankie Crocker, Scott Shannon, Jon Bauman, Bobby Rivers, later VJs included Tim Byrd of WPIX-FM, a station whose eclectic ballad-and-R&B oriented format mirrored that of VH-1, and Alison Steele. Rosie ODonnell later joined the outlets veejay lineup, ODonnell would also host a comedy show featuring various comedians each episode. The format left room for occasional ad-libs by the VJ, a godsend for emcees such as Imus, in true Imus style, he used a 1985 segment of his VH-1 show to jokingly call smooth-jazz icon Sade Adu a grape for her oval-shaped head. At first many different musicians guest-hosted the program, but eventually musician/songwriter Ben Sidran became the permanent host, new-Age music videos continued to play on the channel into the 1990s. They would be seen on the Sunday morning 2-hour music video block titled Sunday Brunch, once VH1 established itself a few years later, they catered to Top 40, adult contemporary, classic rock, and 1980s mainstream pop. For a time, even music videos aired in a one-hour block during the afternoons. They started out using MTVs famous Kabel typeface font for their music video credit tags and it was later replaced in 1991 by a larger font, with the year the video was made added to the lower column that identified the label on which the album was released. In 1993, the name of the director was included at the bottom of the credits. Every week, the Top 21 Video Countdown usually had a different guest host, occasionally, they had themed countdowns as well, such as Elvira hosting scary videos for Halloween in 1991. Long blocks of videos by a particular artist or band, theme. One popular weekend program was called Video Rewind, in blocks of 1980s videos from one particular year would play for an hour. There was also a short-lived hour-long program called By Request in which viewers could call a 1–900 hotline number to request their videos, also in 1991, a popular morning program was introduced called Hits News & Weather that ran from 7 AM to 9 AM ET
28.
Reality television
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It differs from documentary television in that the focus tends to be on drama, personal conflict, and entertainment rather than educating viewers. The genre has various standard tropes, including confessionals used by cast members to express their thoughts, an early example of the genre was the 1991 Dutch series Nummer 28, which was the first show to bring together strangers and record their interactions. It then exploded as a phenomenon in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the success of the series Survivor, Idols. These shows and a number of others became global franchises, spawning local versions in dozens of countries, Reality television as a whole has become a fixture of television programming. There are grey areas around what is classified as reality television, Reality television has faced significant criticism since its rise in popularity. Much of the criticism has centered on the use of the word reality, Television formats portraying ordinary people in unscripted situations are almost as old as the television medium itself. Precedents for television that portrayed people in unscripted situations began in the late 1940s, queen for a Day was an early example of reality-based television. The 1946 television game show Cash and Carry sometimes featured contestants performing stunts, debuting in 1948, Allen Funts hidden camera show Candid Camera broadcast unsuspecting ordinary people reacting to pranks. In 1948, talent search shows Ted Macks Original Amateur Hour and Arthur Godfreys Talent Scouts featured amateur competitors, in the 1950s, game shows Beat the Clock and Truth or Consequences involved contestants in wacky competitions, stunts, and practical jokes. Confession was a show which aired from June 1958 to January 1959. The radio series Nightwatch tape-recorded the daily activities of Culver City, the series You Asked for It incorporated audience involvement by basing episodes around requests sent in by postcard from viewers. First broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1964, the Granada Television documentary Seven Up, broadcast interviews with a dozen ordinary 7-year-olds from a broad cross-section of society and inquired about their reactions to everyday life. Every seven years, a film documented the life of the same individuals during the period, titled the Up Series, episodes include 7 Plus Seven,21 Up. The program was structured as a series of interviews with no element of plot, however, it did have the then-new effect of turning ordinary people into celebrities. The first reality show in the modern sense may have been the series The American Sportsman, Another precursor may be considered Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom which aired from 1963 through 1988. This show featured zoologist Marlin Perkins traveling across the globe and illustrating the variety of animal life on the planet. Though mostly a travelogue, it was popular in syndication and new episodes were produced through the eighties. The 12-part 1973 PBS series An American Family showed a nuclear family going through a divorce, unlike many later reality shows, it was more or less documentary in purpose and style
29.
National Basketball Association
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The National Basketball Association is the major mens professional basketball league in North America, and is widely considered to be the premier mens professional basketball league in the world. It has 30 teams, and is a member of USA Basketball. The NBA is one of the four professional sports leagues in the United States. NBA players are the worlds best paid athletes by average annual salary per player, the league was founded in New York City on June 6,1946, as the Basketball Association of America. The league adopted the name National Basketball Association on August 3,1949, the leagues several international as well as individual team offices are directed out of its head offices located in the Olympic Tower at 645 Fifth Avenue in New York City. NBA Entertainment and NBA TV studios are directed out of offices located in Secaucus, the Basketball Association of America was founded in 1946 by owners of the major ice hockey arenas in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Canada. On November 1,1946, in Toronto, Canada, the Toronto Huskies hosted the New York Knickerbockers at Maple Leaf Gardens, the first basket was made by Ossie Schectman of the Knickerbockers. During its early years, the quality of play in the BAA was not significantly better than in competing leagues or among leading independent clubs such as the Harlem Globetrotters. For instance, the 1948 ABL finalist Baltimore Bullets moved to the BAA and won that leagues 1948 title, Following the 1948–49 season, the BAA took in the remainder of the NBL, Syracuse, Anderson, Tri-Cities, Sheboygan, Denver, and Waterloo. The new league had seventeen franchises located in a mix of large and small cities, as well as arenas and smaller gymnasiums. The process of contraction saw the leagues smaller-city franchises move to larger cities, the Hawks shifted from the Tri-Cities to Milwaukee in 1951, and then to St. Louis in 1955. The Rochester Royals moved from Rochester, New York, to Cincinnati in 1957, japanese-American Wataru Misaka broke the NBA color barrier in the 1947–48 season when he played for the New York Knicks. He remained the only player in league history prior to the first African-American, Harold Hunter. During this period, the Minneapolis Lakers, led by center George Mikan, won five NBA Championships, to encourage shooting and discourage stalling, the league introduced the 24-second shot clock in 1954. If a team does not attempt to score a goal within 24 seconds of obtaining the ball, play is stopped. In 1957, rookie center Bill Russell joined the Boston Celtics, who already featured guard Bob Cousy and coach Red Auerbach, and went on to lead the club to eleven NBA titles in thirteen seasons. Center Wilt Chamberlain entered the league with the Warriors in 1959 and became a dominant individual star of the 1960s, russells rivalry with Chamberlain became one of the greatest rivalries in the history of American team sports. The 1960s were dominated by the Celtics, led by Russell, Bob Cousy and coach Red Auerbach, Boston won eight straight championships in the NBA from 1959 to 1966
30.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
31.
Afro-Trinidadian
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Afro-Trinidadians and Tobagonians are people from Trinidad and Tobago who are largely of African descent. Mulatto-Creole, Zambo, Quadroon, or Octoroon were all terms used to measure the amount of African ancestry someone possessed in Trinidad. Afro-Trinidadians and Tobagonians accounted for 35.4 per cent of the population of Trinidad, however, the classification is primarily a superficial description based on phenotypical description opposed to genotypical classification. It is not uncommon for Trinidadians of both Indian and African descent to be considered Afro-Trinidadian solely based on appearance, an additional 22.8 per cent of Trinidadians described themselves as being multiracial, of whom 7.7 per cent were dougla. The islands of Trinidad and Tobago have a different racial history, in an effort to unite the cultural and ethnic divide between the two islands many people choose to be called Trinbagonians as a sign of unity. The ultimate origin of most African ancestry in the Americas is in West, the most common ethnic groups of the enslaved Africans in Trinidad and Tobago were Igbo, Kongo and Malinke people. All of these groups, among others, were affected by the Atlantic slave trade. The population census of 1813 shows that among African-born slaves the Igbo were the most numerous, around half of Afro-Trinidadians were the descendants of emigrants from other islands of the Caribbean, especially Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica and Grenada. Other Afro-Trinidadians trace their ancestry to American slaves recruited to fight for the British in the War of 1812 or from indentured labourers from West Africa, in 1498 Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Trinidad, where he encountered the indigenous Taino people and the Kalinagos. A while after Columbuss landing, Trinidad became a territory of the Spanish Empire, the Spanish enslaved the Amerindians and over time mixed with them, their offspring creating the Mestizo identity. The Mulattos came about after Spain started transporting enslaved Africans to Trinidad in 1517 via the Atlantic slave trade, by the time the African, Mulattoes and Mestizos started intermixing, the Amerindians had become almost nonexistent. In 1783 the King of Spain passed the Cedula of Population law, with this law French settlers and their creole slaves migrated to Trinidad from the French Antilles to work the sugar cane plantations. They too added to the ancestry of Trinidadians, creating the identity, Spanish, French. In 1802 Great Britain took over the island and slavery was abolished in 1834. The abolition of slavery led to an influx of indentured servants from places such as China, while some left, many stayed and married into the Trinidadian populace. In 1911, many more Chinese came after the Chinese Revolution, over time, many of these settlers married into the families of the freed slaves. On 30 May 1845, the British transported indentured servants from India to Trinidad and this day is known as Indian Arrival Day. The first group of East Indian people also began to mix into the Trinidadian populace, after the use of indentured servants was abolished 1917, a second group of East Indian people steadily migrated to Trinidad from India, referred to as coolies
32.
Talent show
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A talent show is an event where participants perform talents of singing, dancing, acrobatics, acting, drumming, martial arts, playing an instrument, or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather than contests, but some are actual contests, in the instance of a contest, participants may be motivated to perform for a reward, trophy, or prize of some kind. Talent shows can be seen as a way to help boost the self-esteem, confidence, some communities and companies see talent shows as a way to help prevent juvenile delinquency among children, teens, and young adults. As a result, these communities create programs such as Girls Only, in San Diego to promote the growth of these otherwise trouble youth to better the community. Such programs are created with the hope to prevent youth from the possibilities of entering delinquency or lives of crime
33.
Apollo Theater
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It was the home of Showtime at the Apollo, a nationally syndicated television variety show which showcased new talent, from 1987 to 2008, encompassing 1,093 episodes. The theater, which has a capacity of 1,506, opened its doors in 1914 as Hurtig & Seamons New Burlesque Theater and it became the Apollo in 1934, when it was opened to black patrons – previously it had been a whites-only venue. In 1983, both the interior and exterior of the building were designated as New York City Landmarks, and it is estimated that 1.3 million people visit the Apollo every year. The building which became the Apollo Theater was built in 1913-14 and was designed by architect George Keister. It was originally Hurtig and Seamons New Theater, which enforced a strict Whites Only policy, the theatre was operated by noted burlesque producers Jules Hurtig and Harry Seamon, who obtained a 30-year lease. It remained in operation until 1928, when Billy Minsky took over, the song I May Be Wrong by Harry Sullivan and Harry Ruskin, written in 1929, became the theme song of the theater. During the early 1930s, the fell into disrepair and closed once more. The show ran for an engagement and was highly praised by the press. Leo Brechers Harlem Opera House was another competing venue, to improve the shows at the Apollo, Cohen hired noted talent scout John Hammond to book his shows. However, the deal fell through when Cohen died, and the end result was the merger of the Apollo with the Harlem Opera House, the Opera House became a movie theater, but the Apollo, under the ownership of Brecher and Schiffman, continued to present stage shows. Schiffman hired Clarence Robinson as in-house producer, Originally, a show presented at the Apollo was akin to a vaudeville show. As the years progressed, such variety shows were presented less often, comic acts also appeared on the Apollo stage, including those who performed in blackface, such as Butterbeans and Susie, much to the horror of the NAACP and the elite of Harlem. Gospel acts which played the Apollo include the Staple Singers, Mahalia Jackson, The Clark Sisters, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Clara Ward and Sam Cooke with the Soul Stirrers. Performers of soul music on the Apollo stage included Ray Charles, Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin, and jazz was represented as well, by acts such as Art Blakey and Horace Silver. The theaters audience was often mixed, in the 1940s it was estimated that during the week about 40% of the audience was white, Jazz singer Anita ODay headlined for the week of September 21,1950, billed as the Jezebel of Jazz. Schiffman had first introduced a night at the Lafayette Theater, where it was known as Harlem Amateur Hour. At the Apollo, it was originally called Audition Night, but later became Amateur Night in Harlem, held every Monday evening and broadcast on the radio over WMCA, the Apollo grew to prominence during the Harlem Renaissance of the pre-World War II years. Fitzgeralds performances pulled in an audience at the Apollo and she won the opportunity to compete in one of the earliest of its Amateur Nights
34.
Lauryn Hill
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Lauryn Noelle Hill is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is best known for being a member of the Fugees and for her acclaimed solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Raised mostly in South Orange, New Jersey, Hill began singing with her family during her childhood. In high school, Hill was approached by Pras Michel to start a band and they renamed themselves the Fugees and released the albums Blunted on Reality and the Grammy Award-winning The Score. Hills tumultuous romantic relationship with Jean led to the split of the band in 1997, the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill remains Hills only solo studio album. It received massive critical acclaim, showcasing a representation of life and relationships, the album debuted at number one on the U. S. Billboard 200 and has sold approximately eight million copies there. It included the singles Doo Wop, Ex-Factor, and Everything Is Everything, at the 41st Grammy Awards, the record earned her five awards, including Album of the Year and Best New Artist. During this time she won numerous awards and became a common sight on the cover of magazines. Soon afterward, Hill dropped out of the eye, dissatisfied with the music industry. Her last full-length recording, the live album MTV Unplugged No. 2.0, sharply divided critics and sold poorly compared to her first album, Hills subsequent activity, which includes the release of a few songs and occasional festival appearances, has been sporadic and erratic. Her behavior has sometimes caused audience dissatisfaction, a reunion with her former group did not last long and her music, as well as a series of public statements she has issued, has become critical of pop culture and societal institutions. Hill has six children, five of whom are with Rohan Marley, in 2012, she pleaded guilty to tax evasion for failure to pay federal income taxes, and in 2013, served a three-month prison sentence. Lauryn Noelle Hill was born on May 26,1975, in East Orange, New Jersey to English teacher Valerie Hill and computer and she has one older brother named Malaney. Her Baptist family moved to New York and Newark for short periods until settling in South Orange and she had a middle-class upbringing, knowing both many white Jewish families and many black ones. Future actor Zach Braff lived in the neighborhood, and she attended his Bar Mitzvah, Hill has said of her musically oriented family, there were so many records, so much music constantly being played. My mother played piano, my father sang, and we were surrounded in music. Her father sang in nightclubs and at weddings
35.
Stevie Wonder
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Stevland Hardaway Morris, known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist. A child prodigy, he is considered to be one of the most critically and commercially successful musical performers of the late 20th century, Wonder signed with Motowns Tamla label at the age of 11, and he continued performing and recording for Motown into the 2010s. He has been blind since shortly after birth, Wonder is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr. s birthday a holiday in the United States. In 2009, Wonder was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace, in 2013, Billboard magazine released a list of the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists to celebrate the US singles charts 55th anniversary, with Wonder at number six. Stevie Wonder was born in Saginaw, Michigan, in 1950, the third of six children of Calvin Judkins and Lula Mae Hardaway, when Wonder was four, his mother left his father and moved to Detroit with her children. She changed her back to Lula Hardaway and later changed her sons surname to Morris. Wonder has retained Morris as his legal surname and he began playing instruments at an early age, including piano, harmonica and drums. He formed a partnership with a friend, calling themselves Stevie and John, they played on street corners. Before signing, producer Clarence Paul gave him the name Little Stevie Wonder, because of Wonders age, the label drew up a rolling five-year contract in which royalties would be held in trust until Wonder was 21. He and his mother would be paid a stipend to cover their expenses, Wonder received $2.50 a week. Wonder was put in the care of producer and songwriter Clarence Paul, tribute to Uncle Ray was recorded first, when Wonder was still 11 years old. Mainly covers of Ray Charless songs, it included a Wonder and Paul composition, the Jazz Soul of Little Stevie was recorded next, an instrumental album consisting mainly of Pauls compositions, two of which, Wondering and Session Number 112, were co-written with Wonder. At the end of 1962, when Wonder was 12 years old, he joined the Motortown Revue, at the Regal Theater, Chicago, his 20-minute performance was recorded and released in May 1963 as the album Recorded Live, The 12 Year Old Genius. A single, Fingertips, from the album was released in May. The song, featuring a confident and enthusiastic Wonder returning for a spontaneous encore that catches out the replacement bass player, was a No.1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 when Wonder was aged 13, making him the youngest artist ever to top the chart. The single was simultaneously No.1 on the R&B chart and his next few recordings, however, were not successful, his voice was changing as he got older, and some Motown executives were considering cancelling his recording contract. During 1964, Wonder appeared in two films as himself, Muscle Beach Party and Bikini Beach, but these were not successful either, sylvia Moy persuaded label owner Berry Gordy to give Wonder another chance. He also began to work in the Motown songwriting department, composing songs both for himself and his mates, including The Tears of a Clown, a No.1 hit for Smokey Robinson
36.
Janet Jackson
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Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American singer, songwriter, dancer and actress. After signing a contract with A&M Records in 1982, she became a pop icon following the release of her third studio album Control. Her collaborations with record producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis incorporated elements of rhythm and blues, funk, disco, rap, and industrial beats, which led to crossover success in popular music. In 1991 Jackson signed the first of two record-breaking multimillion-dollar contracts with Virgin Records, establishing her as one of the highest paid artists in the industry. Her debut album under the label, Janet, saw her develop an image as a sex symbol as she began to explore sexuality in her work. That same year, she appeared in her first starring role in Poetic Justice. By the end of the 1990s, she was the second most successful recording artist of the decade, the release of her seventh studio album All for You coincided with a celebration of her impact on popular music as the inaugural MTV Icon. After parting ways with Virgin she released her studio album, Discipline, her first. In 2015 she partnered with BMG Rights Management to launch her own label, Rhythm Nation. Having sold over 100 million records, Jackson is one of the artists in the history of contemporary music. In 2016, Billboard placed her number seven on its list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists, in December 2016, the magazine named her the second most successful dance artist of all-time. One of the worlds most awarded artists, her longevity, records and she has been cited as an inspiration among numerous performers. Janet Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana, the youngest of ten children, to Katherine Esther, the Jacksons were lower-middle class and devout Jehovahs Witnesses, although Jackson would later refrain from organized religion. At a young age, her brothers began performing as The Jackson 5 in the Chicago-Gary area, in March 1969, the group signed a record deal with Motown, and soon had their first number-one hit. The family then moved to the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jackson had initially desired to become a horse racing jockey or entertainment lawyer, with plans to support herself through acting. Despite this, she was anticipated to pursue a career in entertainment, at age seven, Jackson performed at the Las Vegas Strip at the MGM Casino. A biography revealed her father, Joseph Jackson, was emotionally withdrawn and she began acting in the variety show The Jacksons in 1976. In 1977, she was selected to have a role as Penny Gordon Woods in the sitcom Good Times
37.
Michael Jackson
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Michael Joseph Jackson was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, actor, and philanthropist. Called the King of Pop, his contributions to music, dance, the eighth child of the Jackson family, Michael made his professional debut in 1964 with his elder brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon as a member of the Jackson 5. He began his career in 1971. In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music, the popularity of these videos helped bring the television channel MTV to fame. Jacksons 1987 album Bad spawned the U. S and he continued to innovate with videos such as Black or White and Scream throughout the 1990s, and forged a reputation as a touring solo artist. Through stage and video performances, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and his distinctive sound and style has influenced numerous artists of various music genres. Thriller is the album of all time, with estimated sales of 65 million copies worldwide. Jacksons other albums, including Off the Wall, Bad, Dangerous and he is recognized as the Most Successful Entertainer of All Time by Guinness World Records. Jackson won hundreds of awards, making him the most awarded recording artist in the history of popular music. He became the first artist in history to have a top ten single in the Billboard Hot 100 in five different decades when Love Never Felt So Good reached number nine on May 21,2014. Jackson traveled the world attending events honoring his humanitarianism, and, in 2000, aspects of Jacksons personal life, including his changing appearance, personal relationships, and behavior, generated controversy. In 1993, he was accused of sexual abuse, but the civil case was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of child sexual abuse allegations. While preparing for his concert series, This Is It, Jackson died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication on June 25,2009. The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled his death a homicide, and his personal physician, Jacksons death triggered a global outpouring of grief, and a live broadcast of his public memorial service was viewed around the world. Forbes ranks Jackson as the dead celebrity with earnings of $825 million in 2016. Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29,1958 and his mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Jehovahs Witness. She played clarinet and piano and once aspired to be a country-and-western performer, michaels father, Joseph Walter Joe Jackson, a former boxer, was a steelworker at U. S. Steel
38.
Music video
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A music video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. There are also cases where songs are used in tie in marketing campaigns that allow them to more than just a song. Tie ins and merchandising could be used in toys or marketing campaigns for food, although the origins of music videos date back to musical short films that first appeared in the 1920s, they came into prominence in the 1980s when MTV based their format around the medium. Prior to the 1980s, these works were described by terms including illustrated song, filmed insert, promotional film, promotional clip, promotional video, song video. Music videos use a range of styles of contemporary videomaking techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation, music, combining these styles and techniques has become more popular because of the variation it presents to the audience. Many music videos interpret images and scenes from the songs lyrics, other music videos may be without a set concept, being merely a filmed version of the songs live performance. Product placement is a technique in music videos, exemplified by the appearance of the Beats Pill in numerous hip hop videos. In 1894, sheet music publishers Edward B, marks and Joe Stern hired electrician George Thomas and various performers to promote sales of their song The Little Lost Child. Using a magic lantern, Thomas projected a series of images on a screen simultaneous to live performances. This would become a form of entertainment known as the illustrated song. In 1926, with the arrival of many musical short films were produced. Vitaphone shorts featured many bands, vocalists and dancers, early 1930s cartoons featured popular musicians performing their hit songs on-camera in live-action segments during the cartoons. The early animated films by Walt Disney, such as the Silly Symphonies shorts and especially Fantasia, the Warner Brothers cartoons, even today billed as Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, were initially fashioned around specific songs from upcoming Warner Brothers musical films. Live action musical shorts, featuring such performers as Cab Calloway, were also distributed to theaters. Blues singer Bessie Smith appeared in a short film called St. Louis Blues featuring a dramatized performance of the hit song. Numerous other musicians appeared in short musical subjects during this period, soundies, produced and released from 1940 to 1947, were musical films that often included short dance sequences, similar to later music videos
39.
Entertainer
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Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience, or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousands of years specifically for the purpose of keeping an audiences attention. Although peoples attention is held by different things, because individuals have different preferences in entertainment, most forms are recognisable, the process has been accelerated in modern times by an entertainment industry that records and sells entertainment products. This may be the case in the forms of ceremony, celebration, religious festival. Hence, there is the possibility that what appears as entertainment may also be a means of achieving insight or intellectual growth, an important aspect of entertainment is the audience, which turns a private recreation or leisure activity into entertainment. Entertainment can be public or private, involving formal, scripted performance, as in the case of theatre or concerts, or unscripted and spontaneous, most forms of entertainment have persisted over many centuries, evolving due to changes in culture, technology, and fashion. Films and video games, for example, although they use media, continue to tell stories, present drama. Festivals devoted to music, film, or dance allow audiences to be entertained over a number of consecutive days, some activities that were once considered entertaining, particularly public punishments, have been removed from the public arena. In the same way, other necessary skills, such as cooking, have developed into performances among professionals, staged as global competitions, what is entertainment for one group or individual may be regarded as work by another. The familiar forms of entertainment have the capacity to cross over different media and have demonstrated a seemingly unlimited potential for creative remix and this has ensured the continuity and longevity of many themes, images, and structures. Entertainment can be distinguished from other such as education and marketing even though they have learned how to use the appeal of entertainment to achieve their different goals. The importance and impact of entertainment is recognised by scholars and its increasing sophistication has influenced practices in other such as museology. Psychologists say the function of entertainment is the attainment of gratification. No other results or measurable benefit are usually expected from it and this is in contrast to education and marketing. However, the distinctions become blurred when education seeks to be more entertaining, such mixtures are often known by the neologisms edutainment or infotainment. The psychology of entertainment as well as of learning has been applied to all these fields, some education-entertainment is a serious attempt to combine the best features of the two. Some people are entertained by others pain or the idea of their unhappiness, an entertainment might go beyond gratification and produce some insight in its audience when it skillfully considers universal philosophical questions such as, What is the meaning of life. What does it mean to be human, what is the right thing to do
40.
Ring the Alarm
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Ring the Alarm is a song recorded by American singer Beyoncé Knowles for her second studio album, BDay. It was composed by Knowles, Kasseem Swizz Beatz Dean and Sean Garrett, the songs development was motivated by Knowles role in the Broadway musical adaptation Dreamgirls. The cover art of Ring the Alarm proved controversial because Knowles used alligators during the photography session, people for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, declared that Knowles posing with a baby alligator was arguably abusive to an animal. Ring the Alarm is an R&B song with rock influences. Its introduction features a siren, which sets an aggressive tone. The songs lyrics revolve a woman who threatened, and is unwilling to allow another woman to profit from the protagonists efforts to improve her lovers life. The lyrics were rumored to be about Barbadian recording artist Rihannas relationship with Jay-Z, the song was received with mixed reception for contemporary music critics, who noted that it was different from Knowles previous work. While some commended her willingness to take risks, others were polarized about her aggressive vocals, Ring the Alarm was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the 49th Grammy Awards. The single debuted at number 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and it reached number 11 on the chart, becoming her first solo single to peak below the top 10. Its accompanying music video was inspired by the 1992 film Basic Instinct and was directed by Sophie Muller and it was filmed inside a cavernous hangar on the Brooklyn waterfront in New York City. The video garnered mixed reviews critics, who universally thought that it was eccentric. Knowles promoted Ring the Alarm through various performances on televised shows and awards ceremonies. The song was included on her set list on The Beyoncé Experience in Los Angeles and her On the Run Tour with Jay Z, and her The Formation World Tour. After six months of filming for the Broadway musical adaptation of Dreamgirls, inspired by her role in the film, she said, I had so many things bottled up, so many emotions, so many ideas. Garret said, I came to the studio and saw the zone. everybody in here is banging out, rodney Jerkins had his session, Rich Harrison had his session going on. I started banging out some shit. Ring the Alarm was produced by Knowles, Garrett and Swizz Beatz, Swizz Beatz stated, just one of the many presents I gave for her BDay. I have the most tracks on her album as a single producer, Ring the Alarm was co-arranged by Knowles and recorded in the same studio. She said about her collaboration with Swizz Beatz, I love working with Swizz and his beats are so complex its hard to find a melody
41.
Record producer
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A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performers music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has many roles during the recording process, the roles of a producer vary. The producer may perform these roles himself, or help select the engineer, the producer may also pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record companies budget. A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording. Producers also often take on an entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, contracts. In the 2010s, the industry has two kinds of producers with different roles, executive producer and music producer. Executive producers oversee project finances while music producers oversee the process of recording songs or albums. In most cases the producer is also a competent arranger, composer. The producer will also liaise with the engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation actually is music director. The music producers job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music, at the beginning of record industry, producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1950s and 1960s due to technological developments, the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously, all of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio and the performance had to be recorded. As well, for a song that used 20 instruments, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. Examples include the rock sound effects of the 1960s, e. g. playing back the sound of recorded instruments backwards or clanging the tape to produce unique sound effects. These new instruments were electric or electronic, and thus they used instrument amplifiers, new technologies like multitracking changed the goal of recording, A producer could blend together multiple takes and edit together different sections to create the desired sound. For example, in jazz fusion Bandleader-composer Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, producers like Phil Spector and George Martin were soon creating recordings that were, in practical terms, almost impossible to realise in live performance. Producers became creative figures in the studio, other examples of such engineers includes Joe Meek, Teo Macero, Brian Wilson, and Biddu
42.
Cameo appearance
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A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance or voice part of a known person in a work of the performing arts, typically unnamed or appearing as themselves. Short appearances by celebrities, film directors, politicians, athletes or musicians are common, a crew member of the show or movie playing a minor role can be referred to as a cameo as well, such as Alfred Hitchcocks frequently performed cameos. Originally cameo role meant a character part that stands out from the other minor parts. The Oxford English Dictionary connects this with the meaning a short literary sketch or portrait, which is based on the meaning of cameo. More recently, cameo has come to refer to any short appearances, whether as a character or as oneself, such as the examples below. Cameos are generally not credited because of their brevity, or a mismatch between the celebritys stature and the film or TV show in which he or she is appearing. Others are acknowledgments of a contribution to an earlier work, as in the case of many film adaptations of TV series. Others honour artists or celebrities known for work in a particular field, possibly the best-known series of cameos was by the director Alfred Hitchcock, who made very brief appearances in most of his films. Cameos also occur in novels and other literary works, “Literary cameos” usually involve an established character from another work who makes a brief appearance to establish a shared universe setting, to make a point, or to offer homage. Balzac often employed this practice, as in his Comédie humaine, a cameo appearance can be made by the author of a work to put a sort of personal signature on a story. Vladimir Nabokov often put himself in his novels, for instance, quentin Tarantino provides cameos or small roles in at least 10 of his movies. Likewise, Peter Jackson has made cameos in all of his movies, except for his first feature-length movie Bad Taste in which he plays a main character. For example, he plays a peasant eating a carrot in The Fellowship of the Ring and The Desolation of Smaug, a Rohan warrior in The Two Towers, director Martin Scorsese appears in the background of his films as a bystander or an unseen character. In Whos That Knocking at My Door, he appears as one of the gangsters, he is a crew man in After Hours. He opens up his 1986 film The Color of Money with a monologue on the art of playing pool. In addition, he appears with his wife and daughter as wealthy New Yorkers in Gangs of New York, in a same way, Roman Polanski appears as a hired hoodlum in his film Chinatown, slitting Jack Nicholsons nose with the blade of his clasp knife. Directors sometimes cast well-known lead actors with whom they have worked in the past in other films, mike Todds film Around the World in 80 Days was filled with cameo roles, and others. The stars in cameo roles were pictured in oval insets in posters for the film, among the many cameos featured in the film Maverick, actor Danny Glover appears as the lead bank robber
43.
Blue Magic (song)
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Blue Magic is the first single from Jay-Zs tenth studio album, American Gangster. The song was released as a single on September 20,2007, in the chorus, Pharrell sings an interpretation of the song Hold On by the R&B girl group En Vogue, who are also featured in the song. The name Blue Magic is a reference to a potent form of heroin sold by Frank Lucas at the height of his trade in Harlem. An official remix features Pharrell and Trey Songz, the lyrics in the first verse refer to Eric B. Most of the song itself is a reference to the 1980s, jay-Z brings up his time as an early age drug dealer with links to the Iran-Contra scandal and CIA and Contras cocaine trafficking in the US that rocked the 1980s and the Reagan Presidency. Chamillionaire released a freestyle of this song for his Mixtape Messiah 4 called What the Business Is, royce Da 59 released a freestyle of this song called Blue Magic. It was a track on Mistah F. A. B. The music video was directed by Hype Williams with costumes designed by June Ambrose and it was first shown on BETs 106 & Park on October 11,2007. The video shows the recording artist and dancer Teyana Taylor, dancing and popping throughout the video, the video appeared at the bottom of BETs Notarized, Top 100 Videos of 2007 on December 31,2007. Music video for Blue Magic on YouTube
44.
Popping
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Popping is a street dance and one of the original funk styles that came from Fresno, California during the late 1960s–1970s. This is done continuously to the rhythm of a song in combination with various movements, closely related illusory dance styles and techniques are often integrated into popping to create a more varied performance. These dance styles include the robot, waving and tutting, however, popping is distinct from breaking and locking, with which it is often confused. A popping dancer is referred to as a popper. As one of the earliest funk styles, popping is closely related to hip hop dancing, Popping and related styles such as waving and tutting have also been incorporated into the electronica dance scene to some extent, influencing new styles such as liquid and digits and turfing. It is often assumed that popping is a style of breakdance and this is due in large part to the movies Breakin and Breakin 2, Electric Boogaloo. In these movies all styles of dance represented, were put under the breakdance label and this caused the media to associate funk styles with hip hop music and assume that popping and electric boogaloo were the same as breaking. Popping is centered around the technique of popping, which means to quickly contract, Popping can be concentrated to specific body parts, creating variants such as arm pops, leg pops, chest pops and neck pops. They also can vary in explosiveness, stronger pops normally involve popping both the lower and upper body simultaneously. Normally, pops are performed at regular intervals timed to the beat of the music, to create variation, poppers often mix in other styles as well, such as waving or tutting, which creates a sharp contrast to the popping itself. Poses in popping make heavy use of angles, mime style movements, the lower body has many ways to move around from basic walking and stepping to the more complex and gravity defying styles of floating and electric boogaloo. Movements and techniques used in popping are generally focused on sharp contrasts and extremes, being robotic and rigid or very loose. Having its roots in the late 1970s funk era, popping is commonly danced to funk, popular artists include Zapp, Dayton, Dazz Band and Cameo. During the 1980s, many poppers also utilized electro music, with such as Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Egyptian Lover. More mainstream hip hop music was also employed by poppers during the 1980s, including Afrika Bambaataa, Kurtis Blow, Whodini and Run DMC. Today, it is common to see popping danced to more current music genres such as hip hop. The pops performed by the popper normally occur on every beat or on the distinct back beats, the popper can also choose to follow the music more freely such as by timing the pops to the rhythm of a melody or other rhythmic elements. There are a number of styles that are commonly mixed with popping to enhance the dancers performance and create a more varied show
45.
Single (music)
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In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record, an album or an EP record. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats, in most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. Typically, these are the songs from albums that are released separately for promotional uses such as digital download or commercial radio airplay and are expected to be the most popular, in other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album. As digital downloading and audio streaming have become prevalent, it is often possible for every track on an album to also be available separately. Nevertheless, the concept of a single for an album has been retained as an identification of a heavily promoted or more popular song within an album collection. Despite being referred to as a single, singles can include up to as many as three tracks on them. The biggest digital music distributor, iTunes, accepts as many as three tracks less than ten minutes each as a single, as well as popular music player Spotify also following in this trend. Any more than three tracks on a release or longer than thirty minutes in total running time is either an Extended Play or if over six tracks long. The basic specifications of the single were made in the late 19th century. Gramophone discs were manufactured with a range of speeds and in several sizes. By about 1910, however, the 10-inch,78 rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format, the inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century.26 rpm. With these factors applied to the 10-inch format, songwriters and performers increasingly tailored their output to fit the new medium, the breakthrough came with Bob Dylans Like a Rolling Stone. Singles have been issued in various formats, including 7-inch, 10-inch, other, less common, formats include singles on digital compact cassette, DVD, and LD, as well as many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc. Some artist release singles on records, a more common in musical subcultures. The most common form of the single is the 45 or 7-inch. The names are derived from its speed,45 rpm. The 7-inch 45 rpm record was released 31 March 1949 by RCA Victor as a smaller, more durable, the first 45 rpm records were monaural, with recordings on both sides of the disc. As stereo recordings became popular in the 1960s, almost all 45 rpm records were produced in stereo by the early 1970s
