So much for saying that rap music is a dying commercial art form. If it wasn’t for hip-hop, this week’s #1 album would have only sold 45,000 units. Rappers manage to take the top three positions on this week’s Billboard album chart, led for a third consecutive week by Eminem. “Recovery” continues to defy expectations, experiencing only a 27% drop in it’s 3rd week and selling a still impressive 229,000 copies. The last album to sell more than 200,000 copies […]
Posts tagged "M.I.A."
New Release Report 7/13/10: Too M>AI>NY Symbols
Whatever happened to letting the music do the talking? Yes, M.I.A., I’m referring to you. The set up for the Sri Lanka-born rapper’s third album (which is called “Maya” but is spelled out with some ridiculous set of symbols that I have no desire to replicate here) has been marred by a bizarre video and a flame war with a New York Times writer who decided to air out some…shall we say, inconsistencies in M.I.A.’s actual lifestyle vs. her artistic […]
How Strong *Is* Christina Aguilera’s “Bionic”?
I was fully expecting “Bionic”, the fourth English-language studio album from Christina Aguilera, to be a disaster. I wasn’t sure how her bombastic vocals and pop sensibility would blend with an intriguing list of collaborators. My suspicions seemed to be confirmed once I heard the fairly generic first single “Not Myself Tonight” and follow-up “Woohoo”, which features the unbelievably annoying Nicki Minaj. There was no way in hell “Bionic” was not gonna be a hot mess. Well, “Bionic” is kind […]
Rihanna's "Rude Boy": Where Have I Seen This Before?
I must admit, I’m sort of confused by the image Rihanna has been projecting these days. I mean, I kinda dig the fact that she’s going the whole Grace Jones route, although she should probably acknowledge that fact for the benefit of folks who aren’t as old as I am and would thus not be aware of the fact that Miss Jones pioneered this whole shtick first. What leaves me a little cold is that she seems to have sexed […]