Sorry for a bit of a break from the countdown, I was taking care of some business in my old stomping grounds and hip-hop’s birthplace. I hope you’ve been enjoying the series so far. Check out past entries that you may have missed: 16-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 15. Ghostface Killah Representing: Staten Island Can you name anything good that has come out of Staten Island other than the Wu-Tang Clan? Consider the fact that I lived in New York City for almost thirty years […]
Posts tagged "The Roots"
Hear Here: Dice Raw’s “1995”
Dice Raw’s 2011 got off to a rocky start when his car was totaled back in January . Since then, he’s recovered, finished up his first solo album in over 10 years and been all over Twitter . Strangely, he hasn’t gotten the digital Questlove bump. Though, that will likely be changing soon. Born Karl Jenkins, the Philly based rapper and close associate of The Roots spent muchof the last ten years gathering Grammy nods most recently for How I Got Over with TheRoots. Curiously, the new album, […]
WTFF: Stephen Colbert (and Friends) Tackle “Friday” on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”
Prior to composing this post, I’d never heard Rebecca Black’s “Friday”-something I was totally cool with. After hearing it tackled on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”, I never want to hear Black’s version, because there is simply no way that this version can be topped. Featuring Stephen Colbert, The Roots, Fallon himself, Taylor Hicks (still my favorite “American Idol” winner) and The New York Knick City Dancers, this is an awesome clusterfuck of epic proportions. You’ve got to give it […]
Blerd Appreciation: Bell Biv DeVoe (Word to Jimmy Fallon)
New Edition was the first (and really only) group of black American kids making music in the public spotlight during the early and mid-Eighties. I spun my “Is This the End” and “Popcorn Love” 45s like they were going out of style and looked up to Ronie, Bobby, Ricky, Mike and Ralph like big brothers. By the time I was a teenager, although I was still a huge N.E. fan (Heart Break is an amazingly underrated album from the New […]
Popblerd!’s 2011 Grammy Preview: Rap
Another year, another time to kvetch over the Grammy Award nominations, right? It may be music’s biggest night, but it’s hard to find a Grammy Awards that’s not fraught with controversy and/or boring as hell. The nomination process always results in head scratching decisions, and this year’s are no different. Katy Perry nominated for Album of the Year? Weird. Lady GaGa’s “Bad Romance” scratched off of the Record of the Year nominees? Uber-weird. No Lil Wayne nominations? Big Boi passed […]
Popblerd! Presents: The Top 40 Albums of 2010 (The Top Five)
Popblerd finishes off the Top 40 albums of 2010 with the final five.
The Boss Rocks Late Night TV
As someone who grew up within spitting distance from New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen’s long loomed large in my musical psyche. I’m not as gaga over the guy as many others are, but he’s a masterful songwriter and an unbelievable live performer. What impresses me more than anything is that even forty years into his career, at 61 years of age, the man performs like he has something to prove. When you’ve been doing the same thing for so long-even if […]
New Release Report 9/21/10: Wanna Get Your Hands All Over Maroon 5?
I’m scared of the new Maroon 5 album, “Hands All Over” ( purchase on Amazon mp3 ). The first single, “Misery”, seemed like the height of laziness to me. If you stuck “This Love” and “Makes Me Wonder” in a blender, the result would be “Misery”, and despite the critical arrows that seem to get slung Adam Levine and co.’s way, they’re definitely better than that. However, no less an authority on music than Popdose’s Grand Poobah Jeff Giles Y’all has deemed M5’s third studio effort, “Hands All Over”, […]
John Legend & The Roots Ask You To “Wake Up!” To the Sound of True Soul
I generally hate covers albums. As much as I love John Legend and The Roots individually, there was a little part of me that thought their album-length collaboration, “Wake Up!” was going to be a humongous bust. My heart sang even further when the album was previewed by their version of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “Wake Up Everybody”. Covering anything on which Teddy Pendergrass originally sung is generally a crime in and of itself, but adding Melanie Fiona […]