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1962dude420-blog · 3 years ago

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Today we remember the passing of Jani Lane who Died: August 11, 2011 in Woodland Hills, California

Jani Lane (born John Kennedy Oswald; February 1, 1964 – August 11, 2011) was an American recording artist and the lead vocalist, frontman, lyricist and main songwriter for the glam metal band Warrant. From Hollywood, California, the band experienced success from 1989 to 1996 with five albums reaching international sales of over 10 million. Lane left Warrant in 2004 and again in 2008 after a brief reunion. Lane also released a solo album, Back Down to One, in 2003, and the album Love the Sin, Hate the Sinner with a new group, Saints of the Underground, in 2008. Lane contributed lead vocals and songwriting to various projects throughout his career.

Lane was born John Kennedy Oswald (later changed to John Patrick Oswald), on February 1, 1964 in Akron, Ohio to Robert and Eileen Oswald. He was raised in Brimfield with four older siblings: sisters Marcine Williams, Michelle Robinson and Victoria Ley, plus older brother Eric, already an accomplished guitarist. With sisters Micki and Vicky and brother Eric harmonizing and playing guitar, Lane taught himself to play drums, guitar and piano by ear by age five. He grew up listening to Cleveland rock station WMMS (100.7 FM "The Buzzard") and was introduced to a variety of music by his older siblings.

With connections from siblings Eric and Vicky in and around the music scene (and with his parents' help), Lane made a name for himself at a very young age. He played drums under the pseudonym "Mitch Dynamite" in clubs by age 11 and with a local band "Pokerface." By that time, his siblings had left for college or marriage, although Vicky was still active in the entertainment industry in northeast Ohio and southwest Florida. Due to Vicky's numerous connections, Lane was able to network with industry execs in pursuit of his dream. Lane graduated from Field High School, in Mogadore, Ohio, a nearby city to Brimfield in 1982.

Lane is credited as the vocalist/drummer on Warrant's Latest and Greatest CD. Throughout his career, Lane would sometimes play drums/acoustic guitar and piano with his band and played the drums in various formats and gigs with other musicians.

After high school, Lane joined the band Cyren, featuring vocalist Skip Hammonds, guitarist John Weakland, bassist Don Hoover (and later Rusty Fohner) with Lane on drums and vocals. Many of Cyren's shows opened for a popular local band called Risque'. When their bassist, Al Collins, noticed Lane's vocal talents, he convinced Lane to form a new band they eventually called Dorian Gray. The new band also included Steven Chamberlin on drums and Dave Chamberlin on lead guitar. Dorian Gray was designed to have Lane as the lead vocalist and to perform original material, but Lane wasn't ready to be the lead singer and quickly returned to the drum kit. Billy Denmead was hired as lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist. After only a few shows, Collins left the band, vowing to put a band together when Lane was ready to be a lead vocalist.

Lane moved to Florida in 1983 with Dorian Gray. He eventually formed Plain Jane with Collins and Chamberlin, adopting the stage name "Jani Lane" (Chamberlin would also soon rechristen himself Steven Sweet). He took the name "Jani" from his German grandparents, who spelled his name "Jani" and pronounced it "Yay-nee."

Lane began vocal training with vocal coach/trainer Ron Feldmann, who introduced him to Creative Engineering, Inc. in Orlando. Lane worked there as a programmer of the animatronic character Dook LaRue, the drummer for The Rock-afire Explosion. His vocal debut was at The Station in Fern Park, Florida.

Lane, Collins, and Chamberlin recorded the first Plain Jane four-track demos at their rented house in Winter Park, Florida. Although reluctant to leave Florida, they rented a trailer in the spring of 1984 and moved to California with hopes of landing a record deal. They were broke by the time they landed at the Hollywood Bowl Motel and resorted to making sandwiches with mustard packets while taking turns calling their parents for cash.

Struggling to make ends meet as a musician, Lane resorted to working in a pornographic video warehouse. The band, along with a new road crew and a few girlfriends, pooled their wages and lived in a two-bedroom condominium rented by new Plain Jane guitarist Paul Noble. At one time there were 13 people living in the crowded space.

By 1985, Plain Jane had become a regular feature on the Los Angeles club circuit and opened many shows for a band called Warrant. Plain Jane's bassist and guitarist both left the band on the same day Warrant's singer and drummer quit. Erik Turner, who had founded Warrant in July 1984, was impressed by Plain Jane's songwriting and vocal performance and invited Lane and Sweet to jam with his band at Hollywood's db Sound in September 1986.

After generating notoriety on the club circuit, Warrant began to attract the attention of record labels. Following an abortive deal with A&M Records over a contribution to the soundtrack for the motion picture Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, the band signed with Columbia Records. The Columbia deal came via the partnering of Warrant and manager Tom Hulett, known for working with The Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, The Moody Blues and others. Hulett became Lane's mentor and friend until Hulett's death from cancer in 1993.

As lead vocalist with Warrant, Lane wrote all of the material for the band's 1989 debut double platinum album, Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich, including four Top 40 hit singles: "Down Boys", "Sometimes She Cries", "Big Talk" and the No. 2 Billboard Hot 100 hit "Heaven." The album peaked at no. 10 on The Billboard 200. Lane also wrote four Top 40 hit singles ("Cherry Pie," "I Saw Red," "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and "Blind Faith") for the second album, the 1990 double platinum Cherry Pie, which peaked at no. 7 on the Billboard 200. Lane also co-wrote and performed with Warrant the song "The Power" in the 1992 movie Gladiator. In 1992, Warrant released Dog Eat Dog, their gold third album, which peaked at no. 25 on the Billboard 200.

Lane left Warrant in March 1993 to pursue a solo career. He returned six months later, helping the band secure a new record with Tom Lipsky of CMC International. Warrant recorded Ultraphobic in 1995, Belly to Belly in 1996, Greatest & Latest in 1999 and a cover album, Under the Influence, in 2001.

Due to personal and business disagreements, Lane left Warrant again in 2004. In January 2008, the band's agent, The William Morris Agency, issued a new photograph of the band with Lane prominently featured, confirming his return to the band. It was the first time that all original members had been in the band since 1993. The band's first show with all original members was in May 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee. Warrant performed a series of shows during the summer of 2008, but by September, the band and Lane agreed to move forward separately due to "too much water under the bridge." Warrant and Lane both continued to perform Lane's compositions live and Lane continued to write for himself and other artists.

Lane became involved in acting in the early 1990s. He made a brief appearance in Caged Fear and appeared in High Strung in 1991.

In 1993, Lane started working on his first solo project. Titled "Jabberwocky," the album represented a significant musical departure from previous work. Between 1997 and 2000, demos of Lane's solo material began surfacing on the Internet, with some bids on eBay reaching an estimated $100 per copy. In 2002, Lane decided to postpone the "Jabberwocky" project and released a new project as his debut solo album. The "Jabberwocky" project remained unreleased.

Lane's official debut solo album, Back Down to One, was released on June 17, 2003 through Z Records and in the U.S. in 2006 on Immortal/Sidewinder Records. It carried a "power pop" sound more closely aligned with the sound of Warrant than "Jabberwocky." Shortly after the album's release, Lane was admitted to a rehabilitation center for alcohol and drug-related exhaustion.

In the fall of 2004, Lane contributed lead vocals for the first ever theme song to a novel, Billy McCarthy's "The Devil of Shakespeare," along with James Young from Styx, Ron Flynt of 20/20 and Chip Z'Nuff of Enuff Z'Nuff.

Lane contributed vocals on the track "Bastille Day" and "2112 Overture/Temples of Syrinx" for the Magna Carta 2005 Rush tribute album "Subdivisions."

Lane had success with the "VH1 Classic Metal Mania: Stripped" discs, where the acoustic version of "I Saw Red" was included on disc 1, a new acoustic swinging version of "Cherry Pie" featured on disc 2, and a new acoustic version of "Heaven" featured on disc 3.

In 2005, Lane became a fan favorite on the popular VH1 series Celebrity Fit Club 2. His problems with alcohol were highlighted and many viewers supported his efforts at recovery.

With the reissue and U.S. release of "Back Down to One" in 2006, Lane attempted to restart his version of Warrant. Although "Back Down to One" was credited as a solo release, Lane assembled a new touring band called "Jani Lane's Warrant." The band's first shows in Michigan were stopped by legal action from former bandmates objecting to his use of the Warrant logo on his posters. Lane subsequently continued touring without the Warrant name and logo.

Lane lent his vocals to numerous tribute CDs during the 2000s. In 2007, he released a solo cover album titled "Photograph," featuring a collection of his tribute contributions.

Keri Kelli and Lane wrote a song for Alice Cooper titled "The One That Got Away." It was recorded by Cooper on his 2008 record Along Came a Spider. Lane also finished work on a side project, Saints of the Underground, which included Kelli and Bobby Blotzer and Robbie Crane, (both from Ratt). Their album, Love the Sin, Hate the Sinner, was released on April 22, 2008 by Warrior Records, and was mixed by producer/engineer Andy Johns, who'd worked with The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. The album featured additional bass work by Chuck Wright (Quiet Riot, House of Lords). The band was originally called "Angel City Outlaws" when they posted their first two promo singles, "Bruised" and "Exit."

In summer 2010, Lane toured with Great White, filling in for singer Jack Russell, who was recuperating from surgery after suffering internal complications.

On August 11, 2011, the Los Angeles Police Department and local news stations announced that Lane was found dead of acute alcohol poisoning at a Comfort Inn hotel in Woodland Hills, California at the age of 47. Lane was pronounced dead by fire department personnel who responded to a call shortly before 5:30 p.m.

#August 11 #2011 #R.I.P.#Jani Lane #Warrant

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wierdoaliengirl420 · 4 years ago

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🖤🖤🖤 Warrant & The Rise & Fall of Jani Lane

Heres #2 & i consider this one special in honor of Jani Lane, 💔💕💌

The Band was formed in 1984 by drummer Max Asher who was still in high school. The Original lineup consisted of Lead vocalist, (at the time) Adam Shore, drummer Max Asher , guitarists Josh Lewis & Erik Turner and bassist Chris Vincent who was quickly replaced by Jerry Dixon . At the time the band did a hella alot of gigging around California. Opening for Hurricane , Ted Nugent , Stryper, Black n Blue and many others. But in Sept. '86, Shore and Asher quit to form Hot Wheelz . Which im going to have to check out later. But during this time they were working their asses off, trying to make it big like everyone else on the sunset strip.

Later that month Erik Turner was at a gig watching this band called Plain Jane who was a regular feature in the LA club scene . Erik ended up really digging the songwriting and vocals so he invited Jani Lane and drummer Steven Sweet for a jam session at Hollywood Db sound in Sept 1986. And that was it, Lane and Sweet along with guitarist Joey Allen, who replaced Lewis and Revamped up the band in 1987 (Hooorah) lolz As soon as Jani was recruited in the band he took on the role of being the songwriter for the band. Its so extraordinary to see and read about a bands transformation into stardom . Fucking amazing . Their peak of popularity was around 1988- 1996 with 5 albums reaching international sales of over 10 million. Their debut album, " Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinken Rich " went double platinum and so did the album " Cherry Pie " in the early 90s. " Dog Eat Dog " has a few good jams I'm not gonna lie. Jani Lanes voice is something I have to have a daily dose of 😂😂

Speaking of the 90s, as they were approaching becoming more of a mid 90s scene, Warrant knew they were going to be fucked as the sounds were changing as they sadly do. After their Dog Eat Dog Tour Jani had went on a solo career and the band got dropped by Columbia following the arrival of grunge and the death of their manager , Tom Hulett. in '93, Jani returned to the band and a toured for a short time in clubs in LA. Afterwards there was alot of change in lineup then in Sept '94 the band had gotten signed again byTom Lipsky of CMC Records in Sept '94.

Despite the bands drop in popularity, they released Ultraphobic in 1995 and a successful Greatest Hits album in '96, and they experienced a ton of highs and lows within that time. the 2000s led up to Jani leaving the band the band doing a reunion show with the new singer, Jaime St. James after that. ....

Then the horrid of all days happened and our beloved Jani Lane passed away from alcohol poisoning(supposedly) on Aug 11 2011. So they say, the office found his body in a comfort inn room with pills and alcohol also in the room . but i could only imagine what he was going through that led up to this if it was even an "accident". Let me know what you guys think about Jani Lanes death.

💘

!Fun Fact! : Jani Lane really wanted to shoot himself in the head from writing their signature song "Cherry Pie" Although it was a Huge success, Jani Thought it overshadowed the rest of the bands work. It was a song the label wanted them to write and so he jotted that bitch down on a pizza box. He really didn't think the song fit their style and it didn't. Hella Cliche. btw, his real name was John Kennedy Oswald from Akron Ohio, named after JFK. Then changed it to John Patrick Oswald lolz

Thanks so much for sticking around !!! Let me know what you think✌ Love yall 💋

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soundsof71 · 5 years ago

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1971: Death Comes to Punk Rock

Death: The punk band founded by Detroit teen brothers Bobby, David, and Dannis Hackney in 1971

The photo above is from a post (here) by @brownskinsugarplum76. She followed it up with a post with their music, (here) I was going to reply to, but the Spotify embed kept breaking in my reblog, so I’m going to try embedding a YouTube clip of the same song, with (you guessed it) some additional thoughts about one of 1971′s best stories.

TURN THIS UP.

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YOU’RE HEARING THIS RIGHT? THAT’S PUNK! To be precise, from Death’s 1974 demo tape, first released in 2009, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Consider this a mini-troduction to a longer essay about Death, who really were KILLING it in the early 70s, long before most people think of punk as having started, but you��re hearing this, right? This ain’t PROTOpunk. People calling Death “protopunk” is a pet peeve of mine. This is PUNK.

The phrase “punk rock” first appeared in print in 1971, the same year that Death formed. Why wait for a couple of English bands to mark the “start” of a music form that had been thriving in the American midwest for almost a decade already?

The Detroit-ness of teenagers Bobby, David, and Dannis Hackney had everything to do with Death, and so did 1971. The MC5 and The Stooges had been going petal to the metal for years by then, (I likewise label both of those as FULLY punk, NOT proto punk), and it was Detroit-transplant Alice Cooper (whose Iggy-flavored punk blew up their unique brand of anti-glam first unleashed on their two 1971 albums, Love It To Death and Killer) that inspired the brothers to start their own band that year.

As @brownskinsugarplum76 noted in her earlier post, there’s a terrific documentary about the band from 2013. Check out this trailer! This was punk.

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During their original run, Death only released one single, “Politicians in My Eyes” b/w “Keep on Knocking”, in 1976. (Only 500 copies were pressed.) Their 1974 demo tape was released as an album in 2009, which led to a profile in the New York Times that’s still a terrific read,

This Band Was Punk Before Punk Was Punk

The headline is making the same point I am – what most people think of as the beginning of punk, England in 1976, is absolutely, categorically NOT the beginning of punk.

Indeed, I don’t think 1971 was the beginning of punk rock. 1971 is the point at which punk rock was already a fully mature, easily identifiable offshoot of rock and roll that warranted its own name, and merited critical consideration as a separate, unique genre that would have a history of its own from here, apart from the mainstream of rock and roll itself. Fuck 1976, and fuck 1977 twice.

(btw, don’t bother @’ing me about that on this post. Save it for when I talk about 1971 punk at length. For now, I only want to talk about Death.)

Regardless of your feelings about the relative importance of those years to your own musical journey (and I love ‘em both plenty, just not as the origin of punk, because they’re not), be prepared to have your mind utterly and irrevocably blown by the creativity, power, intensity, and authority of three Detroit teens, and their story, which even more than defiance, is built on love and hope.

Read the story, watch the movie, and turn that music ALL THE WAY UP.

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PS. I don’t talk much about my day job much here on tumblr, but, among other things, it involves writing about people who make movies, TV shows, and related stuff. (Feel free to ping me if you want to know more.) We spoke to the directors of the film A Band Called Death back in 2013 when the film caused quite a stir at South by Southwest.

That was the first I’d heard of Death. One of the cool things is that during the making of the film, as the directors played Death for some of punk, DIY, and Detroit’s brightest lights (Henry Rollins, Jello Biafra, Jack White, etc etc), it was sometimes the first time THEY’D heard Death too! So the story of the MAKING of the documentary was also about one person sharing this amazing music with one more person, each of whom went on to share it with a BUNCH of folks.

So please allow me to heartily recommend a story written by my colleague Debra Kaufman, A Band Called Death: An Interview with the Directors of the Rock Documentary. I know that there are quite a few filmmakers and aspiring filmmakers here, and you’re gonna dig the story of the movie as much as music fans will dig the music.

So where can you catch it? Hard to say by the time you see this, so if these links don’t work, try Google....but A Band Called Death has been included with your Amazon Prime subscription for a few years now, and also for free on Tubi. The rest of the usual suspects have it both for rent and sale for a few bucks, so no excuses. Dig it!

And thanks again to @brownskinsugarplum76 and apologies again for tumblr breaking your embed when I tried to reblog!

#death #punk rock #punk #1971 #essay #1971 school #brownskinsugarplum76 #afro #natural hair #natural #classic rock #detroit

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applicationsoftgo · 2 years ago

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Young jeezy soul survivor lyrics meaning

The confessional 4:44, released in 2017, seemed to be the start of a new phase in the rapper’s career. These albums range from lyrically and musically progressive, to painfully awkward and unfocused. Kelly, Kanye West, or Linkin Park, or a calculated buy-in - Kingdom Come and Budweiser, American Gangster and the film American Gangster, Magna Carta … Holy Grail and Samsung. Every release from this period of his career had a strategic selling point, whether it was a marquee collaborator like R.

From 2004 on, he seemed hell-bent on proving that he still had what it took to keep the No. īut Jay never really committed to his retirement. He released his career-defining LP The Blueprint in 2001 and released the excellent retirement fake-out The Black Album just two years later. With the help of brilliant music minds like Kanye West, Just Blaze, and the Neptunes, Jay dictated the course of hip-hop and emerged as a keen songwriter who knew exactly how to maximize the strengths of his collaborators. He released at least one project annually, while nurturing promising new talent like Philadelphia-based rappers Freeway and Beanie Sigel. The sound fit Jay just as well as one of Biggie’s oversized Coogi sweaters might have - there are hints of genius, but he was clearly still finding his voice and place in the art form.įrom 1998 through 2003, Jay was unstoppable. 1, which took more than a few cues from the flashy rap aesthetic that Puff Daddy had been proliferating through his Bad Boy label. He followed that with the inconsistent, overly polished In My Lifetime, Vol. He’d adopt a slower, more conversational pace for his 1996 masterpiece debut LP, Reasonable Doubt, a project that was self-released after his undeniable talent was denied by every major label he approached. Jay moved in and out of rapper circles in the late ’80s and early ’90s, popping up on songs with his mentor, Jaz-O, and Big Daddy Kane. But he continued to develop his craft, taking stock of hip-hop’s evolving aesthetics and mastering hyperspeed raps in the vein of East Coast rap duo Das EFX. But as an adolescent, he put his hobby on the backburner and crack sales on the front. He’d spend his time banging on the kitchen table at his 534 Flushing Avenue apartment, rhyming to the percussion he created. Jay-Z’s adolescence coincided with the Reagan ’80s. His merging of thinking-man street raps with commercial hits paved the way for artists like Kendrick Lamar and J. His catalogue contains some of the most potent imagery and lucid storytelling about poverty and the desperation that it breeds, all while dominating mainstream pop music, in a delicate tightrope act that almost no one else has ever been able to manage for the span of time that Jay has. And now, two decades (and two dozen solo LPs) later, Jay-Z has become one of music’s all-time most important voices. Def Jam, impressed with Roc-A-Fella’s early independent success, agreed to sign a joint venture with the young imprint on one condition: They needed seven albums from Jay. The skinny kid from Brooklyn’s Marcy Projects intended to drop just one album - a musical I was here statement - before partnering with a major label and falling back into a comfy executive role, becoming a vessel to launch hopeful Roc-A-Fella acts like Memphis Bleek and Christión into orbit.īut the industry had different plans.

If Jay-Z had his way back in 1996, this list would be too brief to warrant compiling.

#Young jeezy soul survivor lyrics meaning

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findurinfo · 2 years ago

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Young Dolph Net Worth After Death: Famous Rapper Dies at 36

Young Dolph Net Worth: American rapper, producer, and recording artist Young Dolph had a $3 million net worth at the time of his passing. Young Dolph tragically passed away on November 17, 2021. Age-wise, he was 36. He becomes well-known and makes money by composing, producing, rapping, and singing. King Of Memphis, his debut studio album, was launched in the music industry in February 2016. Before his sad demise in November, Young Dolph was a successful independent artist. Being independent can make it difficult to make money, but Dolph's business acumen is what allowed him to thrive. He had to come up with novel ideas on how to market his music and earn money according to his own terms. These seven examples demonstrate Young Dolph's sharp business sense.

Young Dolph Net Worth

The Young Dolph net worth in 2022 is now $12 million. All of their income comes from the sale of albums, mixtapes, and songs. They also make money in other ways, such as through events and morning shows, from which he made approximately $1 million. Nevertheless, he makes money from his Young Dolph official Youtube channel.

Young Dolph net worth Young Dolph Net Worth: He became well-known thanks to social media, where he amassed $3.7 Million in followers on the official Instagram account. By accumulating 947K subscribers on his Youtube account, he also becomes popular. This celebrity has a large following on social media. Six albums were included in the amount of albums they released, and one in-studio album was also recorded. However, they had also put out 19 mixtapes for the music industry. Dolph is a stunning young man with an alluring demeanour. Both his physical and mental health are excellent. He is a respectable six feet three inches tall (1.91 meters). Likewise, based on his height, he should weigh around 78 kg in total. He has dark brown eyes and black hair. Young Dolph costs about $30,000 for each engagement in a range of gigs. He generates a sizable income from his own rap music, endorsement deals, merchandise, and the music his record company releases.

Decline in Young Dolph Net Worth

Young Dolph claimed to have turned down a $22 million deal with a big label in 2018. Many others would consider him crazy for turning down that kind of money and would gladly accept the offer. It illustrates his belief that by continuing to work as an independent artist, he will eventually make more money. The advantages of independence are mentioned in Indie Connect. This involves allowing artists to own their masters rather than a large company and giving them more flexibility over how to manage and market their careers.

Young Dolph net worth

Death of Young Dolph

Young Dolph Net Worth: Rapper Young Dolph was shot and killed on Wednesday in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, inside a cherished neighbourhood cookie bakery, according to investigators. Young Dolph was well-liked in the hip-hop scene for his sincerity and fierce independence. In relation to a potential suspect in the shooting that occurred at Makeda's Cookies close to Memphis International Airport, police tweeted that they have nothing to share. Police named Justin Johnson, age 23, as one of the murder suspects on January 5, 2022, and a first-degree murder warrant was then issued. The Tennessee authorities offered a reward for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrator up to $15,000. On January 11, a different suspect, 32-year-old Cornelius Smith, was charged with first-degree murder, possessing illegal firearms, and theft. At Makeda's Cookies in Memphis, where he frequently bought cookies for his mother, Young Dolph was fatally shot on November 17, 2021. According to authorities, an armed robber entered the business and fired twice. For hours, hundreds of people flocked to the scene of his death, and police had to barricade the area while they conducted an investigation. In response, Memphis councilman JB Smiley and Tennessee House Representative London Lamar demanded the establishment of a curfew in Memphis to quell discontent and violence.

Young Dolph net worth The event led to commotion in the neighbourhood of Memphis as locals and fans lamented the loss of the rap artist who cherished the bakery. Even a busy downtown street, Airways Boulevard, was blocked down to better investigate the incident. Makeda's Cookies issued a statement following the incident, according to WREG Memphis. Makeda's Cookies said on social media that it would be closing today "because to this awful tragedy." "We are devastated and grieved by Young Dolph's demise. He loved Makeda's Cookies and was a frequent customer. Our thoughts and sympathies are with his family. Gunfire Against Young Dolph Young Dolph had escaped gunfire in the past. After a confrontation outside a Los Angeles hotel in September 2017, he was shot more than once. His SUV was shot at more than 100 times near Charlotte, North Carolina, in February of that year. The song "100 Shots" was inspired by the occurrence. According to The Commercial Appeal, he claimed that the bulletproof panels of his car were what kept him alive.

Young Dolph net worth Young Dolph Net Worth: Others include a shooting at a school in which a 13-year-old pupil injured a classmate, the murder of two postal workers by a third postal worker who later committed suicide, and a shooting spree at a Kroger grocery store in the Collierville suburb that left two people dead, including the shooter, and more than a dozen others injured.

Early Life

Adolph Thornton Jr. was given the name Young Dolph on July 27, 1985 in Chicago, Illinois. He relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family when he was two years old. When he made his debut mixtape Paper Route Campaign available in 2009, he began to gain attention in the music industry. The Welcome to DolphWorld CD by Dolph was also published. He had an interest for music early on. His grandmother's death in 2008 had a significant impact on him. He used to sing raps and other music at that time to express his feelings and thoughts. Family Life Young Dolph Net Worth: He has two sisters and two brothers among his other four siblings. His entire family moved to Memphis when he was just 2 years old. His parents were heavy cigarette smokers. "Mama always in the streets, so guess who reared me," he rapped in one of his songs called "Preach." He was actually referring to the earlier period when his parents used to smoke in public. Thornton started spending more time with his family in Memphis during the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020 while doing so amid rumours of retirement. He was well-known in the region for his philanthropy, giving $25,000 to his high school, Hamilton, and inspiring kids with his speeches. Days before to his passing, Thornton, who was well-known for giving free Thanksgiving feasts, donated 200 turkeys to patients at the West Cancer Center and had more dinners planned for days later. Tre Tre and Aria, the couple's two children, were born to Thornton and Mia Jaye. He claimed that because of his upbringing with his grandmother, he was a little bit tough with his children. Thornton was a distant relative of the rapper and singer Juice Wrld, and the two frequently cooperated. Thornton also frequently worked with his cousin and fellow musician Key Glock.

Girl Friend of Young Dolph

Young Dolph net worth Young Dolph Net Worth: Young Dolph never concealed his personal life from the public. He collaborated with his cousin Key Glock, a rapper, frequently. Dolph never kept his two children with longterm partner Mia Jaye a secret. The first child was born in 2014, and the second was born in 2017. Though it is uncertain how they first connected, there are speculations that the pair has been dating since 2010 and has lived together even though they have never been wed. Beginning in 2020, Dolph had posted on Instagram that he was thinking of quitting music to devote all of his attention to his children.

Career

He established the record company Paper Route Empire. He collaborated with rapper Gucci Mane frequently. He also released the songs Blue Magic, High Class Street Music, Cross Country Trappin, South Memphis Kingpin, and 16, Shittin On The Industry. The O.T. Genasis smash song "Cut It," which peaked at #35 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, featured Dolph. Young Dolph Net Worth: King of Memphis, Young Dolph's debut studio album, was released in 2016. The album peaked at position five on the US Rap chart, position nine on the US R&B/Hip-Hop chart, and position fifty on the Billboard 200 chart. In 2017, he released his album Bulletproof, which peaked at #36 on the Billboard 200 chart, #19 on the US R&B/Hip-Hop chart, and #14 on the US Rap chart. Young Dolph responded when questioned about his most recent music release in an interview with GQ in May 2020 "Man, my young son wants to listen to some fresh music. I'll be honest: I haven't really been doing rapper sht; instead, I've been doing industry sht and big bro sh*t. I have a lot of artists, and I have been letting all of their projects go, and they are growing. I had to give it to them, so I think, "Yeah, I have go ahead and give it to them." Also read: Tablespoon to Cup: How Many Tablespoons In 1 Cup? Fully Well Explained Songs of Young Dolph Dolph developed a love of music early. He was devastated in 2008 when his grandmother passed away. He turned to music and started rapping as a means of expressing himself. The popularity of the mixtape inspired him to learn more about music. His other mixtapes and songs over the years include "High-Class Street Music," "A Time 2 Kill," "Blue Magic," "South Memphis Kingpin," and "Felix Brothers."

Young Dolph net worth Young Dolph Net Worth: After meeting Key Glock at family events in 2017, Young Dolph signed the Memphis rapper to his Paper Route Empire label. Key Glock is his cousin by marriage. They released the song "Major" in 2018, and it reached its top position of number 47 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Young Dolph claimed to have declined a $22 million label deal that had been made to him in the same year. Young Dolph said he would rather continue on his own indie label "To be honest, it was a really nice deal—a fantastic bargain. But I just happen to notice something else ". Young Dolph released his mixtape Cross Country Trappin in 2014. It featured his hit "Preach," which gradually went viral and greatly raised the Memphis rapper's profile. The breakout track became one of the biggest street anthems of the year and sent Dolph's momentum into overdrive with catchy lyrics like "I don't fk with these nias 'cause they shady / These bi**hes, they just want to have my baby / Born in the '80s, crack baby / Mama, she was in the streets, so guess who raised me." Rich Slave, Young Dolph's seventh studio album, was made available on August 14, 2020. The singles "Blue Diamonds," "RNB," with Megan Thee Stallion, and "Death Row" came before it. With his contribution to O.T. Genasis' 2015 hit, "Cut It," which ruled radio, playlists, and the club and made the P.R.E. CEO's voice unavoidable for much of 2016, Young Dolph made his presence known in a huge manner. Each of the musicians received their first top 10 album when the album reached its peak at number eight on the Billboard 200. BandPlay, who produced the album, utilised a range of beat patterns across its tracks. The younger Key Glock's "celebrations of himself" were balanced by Young Dolph's "depths of self-loathing and sorrow," according to the album's reviews. Other songs Young Dolph Net Worth: Young Dolph had a busy year in 2017, releasing his third single of the year and third studio album, Thinking Out Loud. Numerous artists, including Ty Dolla Sign, Gucci Mane, DRAM, and 2 Chainz, were featured on the album. The rapper released Thinking Out Loud after he took part in a shootout and suffered multiple injuries from bullet wounds. The album includes musical masterpieces including "While U Here," "Drippy," and "Believe Me." The ninth-ranked Thinking Out Loud album on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The album's peak position on the Billboard 200 chart was number sixteen. Young Dolph and rapper Key Glock collaborated on their debut joint album, Dum & Dummer, which was released in 2019. Some of the best Young Dolph songs, such as "Baby Joker," "Ill," and "Water on Water on Water," were included on the album. The peak position of Dum ad Dummer on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart was number four. Additionally, it was able to go up to position 8 on the Billboard 200. Once more, Key Glock and Young Dolph collaborated on their second joint album, Dum & Dummer 2, which was released. Dum and Dummer 2's performance on the chart was an exact duplicate of Dum and Dummer's. On the joint album, "Aspen" is one of the best songs.

Tribute to Young Dolph

Adolph Robert Thornton Jr., the rapper's true name, was shot and died in Memphis last month as he walked into Makeda's Homemade Butter Cookies. According to TMZ, someone fired at Young Dolph through the glass before a car pulled up outside. Young Dolph Net Worth: In the opening lines of the song, he raps, "Had to light one up for Dolph, don't think they felt ya like I feel him," continuing, "Same n****s want to be ya be the ones that come to kill ya." Never receive your flowers while you're here, and dammit, that says a lot, Gucci thinks later in the song. Listen to Gucci Mane's new song, "Long Live Dolph," which is a tribute to Young Dolph. https://youtu.be/aQXV92_1UwM Quotes of Young Dolph - Don't hold out for anybody. Try to achieve your goals. - Everyone respects you if you work. Nobody will appreciate you if you don't put in the effort. - I want people to think well of me when I'm finished with my music or anything else. - Once we stand up and cross the finish line. We obtain a brand that endures. This is going to be very successful. - Let's have outstanding team players. Allow the team members to complete their tasks and observe what and how they accomplish it. It will benefit you more and make your work more difficult. - Prior to beginning any work, try investing in yourself. Continue trying out the new items. Do follow our Facebook page Read the full article

#EmmaThompson #EmmaWatson #HelenMirren #INDvsWI #JudiDench #JulieAndrews #KateBeckinsale #KateWinslet #KristinScottThomas #NetWorth #ReeseWitherspoon #ScarlettJohansson #Thalapathy67 #TildaSwinton #VanessaRedgrave #Varisu #YoungDolph #YoungDolphNetWorth

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howaminotinthestrokesyet · 3 years ago

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Behind The Album: Nirvana’s Compilations

Incesticide

This was a compilation album released in December 1992 via DGC Records. Earlier that year, Sub Pop contacted Gary Gersh at DGC Records to inform him that they still had quite a bit of early material from Nirvana that was never released. Initially, Sub Pop was going to release all of this material, which the band had humorously entitled Cash Cow. The label decided that DGC had a stronger distribution arm to get the album to a greater number of people, so they sold it. The members of Nirvana wanted this to happen anyway because they still hoped to build up their fan base as much as possible. Sub Pop made the only condition of the sale that DGC release the album by the end of 1992. Most of this material had been circulating on tape within fan communities for a while, but the group wanted to give their fans a higher quality version. For his part, Cobain only agreed when he was given complete control over the artwork on the album. One of the interesting facts about this Nirvana hodgepodge came in the fact that four different drummers can be heard on the album. As for the critics, an interesting observation was made by Stephen Thomas Earlywine of Allmusic. He called the song “Aneurysm” on this compilation probably the greatest song that the band ever recorded. The record would sell 500,000 copies in 2 months debuting at number 51 on the Billboard charts in 1992. In 2012, the album would be officially certified platinum.

From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah

This album was the second posthumous release from Nirvana after the success of the unplugged LP. This represented a compilation of live songs from 1989 to 1994 personally chosen by bass player Krist Novoselic, who also penned the liner notes as well. The title of the album is a reference to the Wishkah River in Aberdeen, Washington that Cobain would claim previously he slept near under a bridge as a teen. Novoselic would later deny this claim because the tide would have made such a thing impossible. Novoselic made a point not to include any songs from the unplugged performance, b-side releases, and tracks originally found on Live Tonight Sold Out. The record includes three songs from their performance at London’s Astoria when NME proclaimed the band as America's answer to the Beatles. They only included one song from the Paramount show in Seattle in 1991 as people have said it signified the end of Nirvana being an unknown band. In a similar move, only one song has been included here from their now famous Reading Festival performance in 1992. Three songs are included for a show they did at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in California, which included headliners, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam. No commercial singles were released coinciding with this album, but the record label did send out promotional singles including versions of “Lithium,” “Aneurysm,” “Drain You,” and “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” As for the critics, the number one comment made came in the fact that this album showed the exact opposite of unplugged. This record symbolized the band at its most loud, punk, and natural. The release would make the year’s best of lists for both Rolling Stone and Spin respectively.

With The Lights Out

This box set was released 10 years after the death of Kurt Cobain in 2004. There had been rumors of this release not too long after his death in 1994. Following the end of Nirvana, this box set and a live compilation album became the number one priority for Krist Novoselic. Kerrang! reported in 1999 that surviving members Dave Grohl and Novoselic were planning a box set release for 2000 at the earliest. They made the decision to push back the release date to 2001 to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the album Nevermind. The compilation would consist of b-sides, demos, outtakes, and rehearsals never before released in audio and video format. Unfortunately, the release date got pushed back due to a legal battle between Courtney Love and the surviving members of Nirvana. Much of the battle in court hinged on the final song Nirvana recorded together entitled, “You Know You’re Right.” Both Grohl and Novoselic wanted it on the box set, while Love fought for control over their right to include it. She contended in her lawsuit that the inclusion of this song would fundamentally damage the legacy of her late husband because it needed to be on a single disc album, not a box set. She went on to make the analogy of the Beatles One CD. In 2002, the two parties settled the dispute by agreeing to release a one disc compilation with the track on it. With the Lights Out was sold in heat-sensitive material which changed color when touched, revealing images of recording session tapes. The liner notes were written by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and journalist Neil Strauss. NME said the release represented "a humanising, comprehensive and often heartbreaking document of a man who, in five years, changed the face of music, almost by accident.” Other critics looked upon the box set as containing too much material that did not warrant being included on any compilation with Nirvana‘s name attached to it. Quite a few critics saw the compilation as only appealing to hardcore fans of the group as they observed the one disc compilation might have been the better way to go. Upon its release, With the Lights Out debuted at number three on the charts, eventually being certified platinum.

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maximumbob-universe · 4 years ago

Audio

The cult like obsession with Rockabilly that grew out of Great Britain in the seventies allowed European labels to make some scratch releasing everything that was recorded by Sam Phillips at Sun Records in the fifties. This meant that artists who never had anything close to a hit were finding their old material released on compilation albums, giving them attention they never had in their day. The end result of this deep dive into the Sun vaults revealed many treasures that had gone unheard when first recorded, but have become classics in the rockabilly world, and given voice to performers who would never would have been heard of without the revival and the attendant reissues. Ray Harris had been a country singer before his buddy Bill Black started recording with Elvis. Ray was in studio on one of Presley's Sun sessions, telling himself that he could do that kind of music. Phillips once said that Harris looked like he was going to have a heart attack when recording, spinning his arms like windmills while shouting the lyrics into the microphone. "Come on Little Mama" was one of the Sun's most unvarnished sides, running on enthusiasm as much as anything else. Local sales were good enough to warrant a follow up, but sales of "Greenback Dollar" failed to reach a wider audience. Harris got involved as a producer for another local label, drifting in an out of the music business for the rest of his life.

youtube

Hayden Thompson ended up in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, even though his one release "Love My Baby" never made it to the charts. With Roland James rolling guitar and Jerry Lee Lewis pounding on the piano, "Love My Baby" is an undeniably great record, but sold so poorly that Sam opted to not issue other singles on Thompson. The revival brought him to England, where he enjoyed some late in life success in Europe. Thompson believed the word "revival" a misnomer, saying "I couldn't revive a hit that I never had."

youtube

Phillips was enthusiastic about the Jack Earls song "Slow Down", but nobody bought it. Sam recorded a number of songs with Earls, but none of them saw the light of day until the revival come along. Earls would work as a truck driver in Michigan until the revival made him a working musician again.

youtube

Malcolm Yelvington was a hillbilly singer, performing in a style that paid homage to his hero, Ernest Tubb. Mac never really had a heart for rockabilly, but gave it his best once he got the ear of Sam Phillips. His cover of the Sticks McGee classic "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" was clearly inferior to the original, but shows just how Sam was trying to get local white singers to try R&B. He cut some charming sides for Sun, but most never made it out of the studio. Yelvington also saw some renewed interest during the revival, even cutting an album for European release at the old Sun Studio on Union Avenue.

youtube

Smokey Joe Baugh never really had solo ambitions, he was a studio musician who worked with other artists at Sun, but Sam loved his raspy, bluesy voice. His 1955 Sun release "The Signifying Monkey" showed little commercial appeal, but one listen make you understand why Sam wanted to record him on his own.

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todaymyfather-blog · 6 years ago

Photo

In 1968, while selling 50 million comic books a year, company founder Goodman revised the constraining distribution arrangement with Independent News he had reached under duress during the Atlas years, allowing him now to release as many titles as demand warranted.[18] Late that year, he sold Marvel Comics and its parent company, Magazine Management, to the Perfect Film and Chemical Corporation, with Goodman remaining as publisher.[33]In 1969, Goodman finally ended his distribution deal with Independent by signing with Curtis Circulation Company.[18]

In 1971, the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare approached Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Stan Lee to do a comic book story about drug abuse. Lee agreed and wrote a three-part Spider-Man story portraying drug use as dangerous and unglamorous. However, the industry's self-censorship board, the Comics Code Authority, refused to approve the story because of the presence of narcotics, deeming the context of the story irrelevant. Lee, with Goodman's approval, published the story regardless in The Amazing Spider-Man #96–98 (May–July 1971), without the Comics Code seal. The market reacted well to the storyline, and the CCA subsequently revised the Code the same year.[34]

Goodman retired as publisher in 1972 and installed his son, Chip, as publisher.[35] Shortly thereafter, Lee succeeded him as publisher and also became Marvel's president[35] for a brief time.[36] During his time as president, he appointed his associate editor, prolific writer Roy Thomas, as editor-in-chief. Thomas added "Stan Lee Presents" to the opening page of each comic book.[35]

Howard the Duck

#8 (Jan. 1977). Cover art by

Gene Colan

and

Steve Leialoha

A series of new editors-in-chief oversaw the company during another slow time for the industry. Once again, Marvel attempted to diversify, and with the updating of the Comics Code published titles themed to horror (The Tomb of Dracula), martial arts (Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu), sword-and-sorcery (Conan the Barbarian in 1970,[37]Red Sonja), satire (Howard the Duck) and science fiction (2001: A Space Odyssey, "Killraven" in Amazing Adventures, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, and, late in the decade, the long-running Star Wars series). Some of these were published in larger-format black and white magazines, under its Curtis Magazines imprint.

Marvel was able to capitalize on its successful superhero comics of the previous decade by acquiring a new newsstand distributor and greatly expanding its comics line. Marvel pulled ahead of rival DC Comics in 1972, during a time when the price and format of the standard newsstand comic were in flux.[38] Goodman increased the price and size of Marvel's November 1971 cover-dated comics from 15 cents for 36 pages total to 25 cents for 52 pages. DC followed suit, but Marvel the following month dropped its comics to 20 cents for 36 pages, offering a lower-priced product with a higher distributor discount.[39]

In 1973, Perfect Film and Chemical renamed itself as Cadence Industries and renamed Magazine Management as Marvel Comics Group.[40] Goodman, now disconnected from Marvel, set up a new company called Seaboard Periodicals in 1974, reviving Marvel's old Atlas name for a new Atlas Comics line, but this lasted only a year and a half.[41] In the mid-1970s a decline of the newsstand distribution network affected Marvel. Cult hits such as Howard the Duck fell victim to the distribution problems, with some titles reporting low sales when in fact the first specialty comic book stores resold them at a later date.[citation needed] But by the end of the decade, Marvel's fortunes were reviving, thanks to the rise of direct market distribution—selling through those same comics-specialty stores instead of newsstands.

Marvel ventured into audio in 1975 with a radio series and a record, both had Stan Lee as narrator. The radio series was Fantastic Four. The record was Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Superhero concept album for music fans.[42]

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars

#1 (May 1984). Cover art by

Mike Zeck

[43]

Marvel held its own comic book convention, Marvelcon '75, in spring 1975, and promised a Marvelcon '76. At the 1975 event, Stan Lee used a Fantastic Four panel discussion to announce that Jack Kirby, the artist co-creator of most of Marvel's signature characters, was returning to Marvel after having left in 1970 to work for rival DC Comics.[44] In October 1976, Marvel, which already licensed reprints in different countries, including the UK, created a superhero specifically for the British market. Captain Britain debuted exclusively in the UK, and later appeared in American comics.[45] During this time, Marvel and the Iowa-based Register and Tribune Syndicate launched a number of syndicated comic strips — The Amazing Spider-Man, Howard the Duck, Conan the Barbarian, and The Incredible Hulk. None of the strips lasted past 1982, except for The Amazing Spider-Man, which is still being published.

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weekinethereum · 7 years ago

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August 8, 2017

Ethereum News and Links

Protocol

Diving Into The Ethereum Virtual Machine

Bamboo 0.0.01 Tutorial. "Bamboo makes state transition explicit and avoids reentrance problems by default."

More Yoichi Hirai: What I think about what KEVM people think about EVM

Swarm's recent conference videos are online

Stuff for developers

ZeppelinOS technical details

Using Zeppelin contracts in Truffle

Insights from Ujo on building on Ethereum

Ethereum light client with React Native

web3js had a few releases this week

Matt Condon's Ethereum for Dev Beginners

Ecosystem

ETH Gas Station: it's time for wallets to lower their default gas price

EtherScamDB: MyEtherWallet's open-source database for Eth scams

Hudson Jameson: Why I Am Advising Status and SmartContract.com

Ujo: Distributing & Claiming the EGO Album Badge

UNICEF Ventures has an Ethereum multi-sig

r/ethereum passed 100,000 subscribers on August 7

How decentralized storage projects Storj, Swarm, Filecoin and Sia differ. Also the Swarm v Filecoin view from LivePeer's Doug Petkanics

Project Announcements and white papers

Virtue Poker releases white paper draft

Legacy -- transfer memory and belongings when you die

Ethfinex -- Bitfinex's ERC20 dex. White paper

Docstamp: timestamp your docs on Ethereum

Oracul: you can probably guess it's an oracle system. Prototype

Firefly -- $5 air gapped hardware wallet

Leeroy -- Twitter for Ethereum using MetaMask. Impressive! See also Reddit thread.

FOAM -- Geospatial data protocol for Ethereum

Project Updates

KyberNetwork MVP release

PlutusDEX beta available to token sale buyers

Toshi - switch between test networks, iOS Chat improvements, main net release this year

FunFair releases baccarat and craps running on state channels, live on the testnet. Lots of interesting info from Jez San in the Reddit thread.

Mysterium Q&A update

Melonport July update

Iconomi July Update

Become one of the first DAA managers on Iconomi

Design for BAT Mercury

Jaak announces META token to incentivize sharing rights data

Jaak also has a trial project with Viacom UK

Interviews and Talks

Vitalik's Shenzhen talk and Q&A

Recent Vlad Zamfir talk

Bancor's Eyal Hertzog on Epicenter

Arthur Falls talks to MME, the Swiss lawyers who helped with the Ether sale

Swap Protocol on NeoCash Radio

Status Q&A series with Rocketpool

Andrew Keys on the Hidden Forces podcast

Brian Armstrong on the 20 minute VC

Token Sale Projects

0x token sale details -- must register first starting Aug 9

Announcing Airswap: implementation of Swap white paper

SlotNSlot's Android demo video

Token Sales

Ryan Zurrer: Keepers that maintain blockchain networks

ICOMonitor by Neufund -- transparency monitor for token sales

Matt Slater: The decentralized web is the birth of a new asset class

Julian Moncada: How VCs fit into a decentralized world

OmiseGo to airdrop their tokens for wide distribution

Concerning bit in this Nathaniel Popper NYT piece from a former SEC staffer who claims that if you buy a token because you think the price might appreciate, then it's a security. That'd be an extraordinarily broad and novel interpretation of the Howey test, but certainly hints at the ambiguity of current SEC guidance that is hindering blockchain innovation in America.

General

Laura Shin on Shapeshift's Prism

Jay Rush with a meditation on the potential uses and misuses of this technology

Coinbase announces plan to support Bitcoin Cash - and maybe BCC trading - by the end of the year, similar to what they did for ETC

Brian Armstrong on how to hire executives

Sign of the NYTimes: Grandpa Had a Pension. This Generation Has Cryptocurrency.

IPFS' Filecoin long anticipated sale is here. It has already and is going to raise a crazy amount. Stefano Bernardi didn't like what he found when he dug into Filecoin sale details

A week or so ago, they raised $52m from insiders at a big discount. Not sure why this sale needs to be so rushed?

Preston Byrne: Thoughts on the Filecoin SAFT

Q&A (to come) with Juan Benet

"Fast" Fully Homomorphic Encryption c/c++ library

Dates of note

From Token Sale Calendar:

Upcoming token sale start dates:

August 9 – Lampix

August 14 – SmartRE

August 15 – Ox Protocol (mandatory registration Aug 9-12)

August 15 – BitDice

August 15 – Propy

August 15 – MyBit

August 15 – Latium

August 17 – Decentraland

August 20 – SlotnSlot

August 24 – REAL (Real Estate Asset Ledger)

August 25 – Avalon

August 28 – HelloGold

August 28 – ChronoLogic

August 30 – LookRev

August 31 - Monetha

September 5 – Viberate

September 12 – Evermarkets

September 13 – Unikoin

September 13 – Eventchain

September 18 – Winding Tree

October 1 – Hirematch

October 10 – Swap

Ongoing token sales:

Indorse

Fluence

Everex

Authoreon

Blocklancer

Agora

Macroverse

Blockpass

LastWill

NeverDie

Brickblock

Atlant

GroceryX

Agrello

TribeToken

RexMLS

Want to be included? If you are building your project on Ethereum, email weekinethereum @ gmail [period] com with 1) your URL, 2) sale date and 3) a brief description of how you are using Ethereum. Listings are free. But please make sure to follow those instructions. If you don’t follow the instructions, you likely won’t get a response.

WARNING: list may include scams. Do your own research and due diligence before putting value at risk.

[I aim for a relatively comprehensive list of Ethereum sales, but make no warranty as to even whether they are legit; as such, I thus likewise warrant nothing about whether any will produce a satisfactory return. I have passed the CFA exams, but this is not investment advice. If you're interested in what I do, you can find my somewhat out-of-date investing thesis and token sale appreciation strategies in previous newsletters.]

New email

From now on, please use weekinethereum @ gmail [period] com for newsletter communications.

Some time in August, there will be an announcement that I've joined ConsenSys. Here's a logo to draw your eye in case you were going to skip over this section:

I'm very excited about this move and will have significantly more to say in the future. The newsletters should become more regular again! In the meantime, I wanted to make it clear so that you can judge whether I favor ConsenSys projects.

My charge from Joe Lubin is pretty similar to what Status has told me: keep telling the truth and covering the space objectively, even if the truth hurts.

Permalink

I measure the success of each issue by how much it gets upvoted and shared. This is the link: http://www.weekinethereum.com/post/163960217423/august-8-2017 Follow me on Twitter? @evan_van_ness

This newsletter is supported by Status.im and ConsenSys (have you seen that we're hiring?). But in case you still want to send Ether or tokens: 0x96d4F0E75ae86e4c46cD8e9D4AE2F2309bD6Ec45

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sheilacwall · 5 years ago

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Is Kanye Retiring from Hip Hop to Perform Gospel Only Records?

Is Kanye Retiring from Hip Hop?

According to Andrew Barber of Fake Shore Drive, Kanye may be quitting from making secular hip hop records to focus solely on gospel music going forward. Whether that gospel music will include rapping or not, we won’t know. But, it seems like he is done with the type of hip hop videos which are charting.

Fake Shore Drive is a Chicago-based music blog and media company founded in October of 2007. Its primary focus is showcasing Chicago’s hip-hop and R&B scene, but its scope has since expanded to cover the entire midwest urban music scene.

“Just heard Kanye’s new album Jesus Is King and saw the accompanying film. My favorite track is the last song and it features the Clipse. Both Push & No Malice. Kenny G is also on it. “New Body” has been cut from the album”.

— Andrew Barber

Here is the artwork:

That is an interesting move, that the first thing he does is cut Nicki Minaj from the album, who has been the epitome of modern commercial hip hop over the last 20 years. Nicki Minaj signed to Young Money Entertainment in 2009 and retired this year in 2019 to start a family.

Is Kanye cutting “New Body” from the soundtrack him cutting ties with his past?

“Is this a pivotal point in hip hop with a more conscious sound moving forward?”

Time will tell. Andrew Barber continues…

“The beats on Jesus Is King sounded fire. He definitely pulled from elements of previous sounds that people loved from WTT, 808s, Yeezus, Cruel Summer & MBDTF and put a gospel spin on them.

Of course I need to hear them again, but they were knocking on the sound system he had”.

“It was great to hear the Clipse on a song together again. Hopefully this feature on the Kanye album opens the door for another project from Push & No Malice. I think a good shoulder / bad shoulder album from them would go crazy”.

Kanye is currently in a battle with EMI to be released from his contract. In the contract with EMI, he is forbidden from retiring, making him essentially a slave for the record company.

As noted by The Hollwood Reporter…

“You (Mr. West) hereby represent and warrant that to EMI that You will, throughout the Term as extended by this Modification, remain actively involved in writing, recording and producing Compositions and Major Label Albums, as Your principle occupation.

At no time during the Term will you seek to retire as a songwriter, recording artist or producer or take any extended hiatus during which you are not actively pursuing Your musical career in the same basic manner as You have pursued such career to date. (The preceding representation shall not be deemed to prevent You from taking a vacation of limited duration) .”

But, there is nothing in the contract that forces ‘Ye to keep rapping or making hip hop. West seeks to “obtain his freedom” from publishing and record contracts, and as the basis for doing so, he cites California Labor Code section 2855, which limits personal service contracts to no more than seven years.

According to West’s court papers, he’s been “laboring” for EMI since 2003, when during the recording of College Dropout he signed a “lopsided” contract with the music publisher.

Even if Kanye wanted to retire, his $53 million in debt means an early retirement is not an option. So, how else can he expand his fan base?

As Vanity Fair reports, Kanye put all of his musical endeavors aside in 2009 to work on his label, Pastelle—which then shuttered after seven months. Add to that however much it cost to create his line of G.O.O.D. merchandise, marketed to fans of his record label. He was chewed up and spit out for his attempt at a high-end women’s-wear line called Kanye West in 2011. The line never made it to stores. According to a 2013 interview with Jean Touitou, the founder of the French line A.P.C., which created capsule collections with West, the experiment put the rapper out $30 million.

His collaborations with Nike, on the wildly popular Nike Air Yeezy sneakers, did not stem the losses. West has said he was not given a percentage of the sales—a sticking point that eventually caused him to defect for what would appear to be a more lucrative deal and more creative license at Adidas, where he was able to expand into clothing and elaborate fashion shows at sold-out arenas three times in the span of one year. In his first “season,” West told BET he went $16 million in debt getting his line off the ground.

In light of the more lukewarm receptions to his last few albums and perhaps tired of making hip pop songs and rapping, it makes sense for Kanye to seek a new direction, especially after a mental breakdown over the backlash over supporting MAGA and his quote concerning slavery…

“When you hear about slavery for 400 years,” he said. “For 400 years? That sounds like a choice. You was there for 400 years and it’s all of y’all. It’s like we’re mentally in prison. I like the word prison because slavery goes too direct to the idea of blacks. Slavery is to blacks as the Holocaust is to Jews. Prison is something that unites as one race, blacks and whites, that we’re the human race.”

Whilst, I believe Kanye was perhaps misunderstood here, the backlash was damning.

The irony of course being that Kanye is currently being enslaved by his parent record label now.

Musically, Kanye needs to evolve otherwise he feels stagnant. That’s why you got such different albums such as 808s & Heartbreak, Yeezus and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, whilst the public ached for College Dropout Mk. IV.

This was reflected in the album sales with College Dropout, Late Registration and Graduation selling around 3 million records each, whilst sales since have halved leading to only 600,000 sales for ‘Ye.

So, now that the fashion sales haven’t panned out and record sales are stagnating with debts rising, how can Kanye reach new audiences and expand his consumer base?

Christianity is the most adhered to religion in the United States, with 75% of polled American adults identifying themselves as Christian in 2015. It seems a smart move to target that audience compared with only 25% of the population who listen to hip hop in the USA.

Whether the American public will buy into it is another question. The New York Post recently ran an article on how Christians are rejecting Kanye’s Sunday Service and blasting him on Twitter.

Kaleina, 68, says her faith is constantly mocked “because of the strange and weird behavior of people like this man.”

“He may be trying to understand Jesus in his own limited way and we cannot judge another’s soul,” the commercial real estate professional tells The Post. “People who follow Christ sense something is not right with this scene.”

Only time will tell if Kanye will leave hip hop alone and how dedicated he will be into making gospel music. My gut feeling says his musical rebelliousness and love for hip hop will make it difficult for him to stay on the path of The Light and just record Gospel, but time will tell.

… and as far as the album, if anyone can pull off a gospel-hip hop album, it’s probably Kanye.

He has enough dedicated fans worldwide, having sold 21 million albums and 100 million digital downloads worldwide.

“I’m not here to comment on the album not dropping. But I will say that it’s dope that he’s paying for all this stuff out of his own pocket and making all the events free”. — Andrew Barber

“I might fall short, but I still man up” – see Kanye’s freestyle below.

youtube

Jesus is King Documentary

Coming to IMAX Theatres Soon

youtube

The post Is Kanye Retiring from Hip Hop to Perform Gospel Only Records? appeared first on Hip Hop World Music.

from Hip Hop World Music https://hiphopworldmusic.com/is-kanye-retiring-from-hip-hop-to-perform-gospel-only-records/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=is-kanye-retiring-from-hip-hop-to-perform-gospel-only-records from Hip Hop World Music https://hiphopworldmusic.tumblr.com/post/188104879043

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topbeautifulwomens · 6 years ago

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#Alan #Jackson #curl #fashiongram #fashionistas #girl #lifestylemodel #memes #pic #quotes #streetstyle #stylist

As the 1st artist signed to Arista Records’ country division, Alan Jackson’s first single, “Blue Blooded Woman,” peaked at a dismal No. 45 on the country charts in 1989. Clearly, things improved substantially with the next single — the title track from his debut album, Here in the Real World — and the hits haven’t stopped yet. Fifteen years into his career, the superstar has sold far more than 40 million albums and scored more than 30 No. 1 singles — 21 of which he either wrote or co-wrote.

Jackson was born Oct. 17, 1958, in Newnan, Ga., to a blue-collar family. Jackson’s father was an automobile mechanic. Caring for a household of seven, his mother served instill a sense of integrity and small town values. While in high school, Jackson met his future wife, Denise, at a Dairy Queen, and their lasting marriage has created three daughters.

Playing in country bands in Georgia, Jackson worked as a mechanic, used car salesman and forklift operator to pay the bills while writing songs. He and Denise moved to Nashville in 1985, but his first impressions of Music City were a tiny basement apartment and a genre whose radio prerequisites had almost practically nothing to do with his own songwriting. That same year, Denise met Glen Campbell in an airport when she was working as a flight attendant. She told Campbell about her husband and gave him a tape. Campbell gave her his business card and suggested that Alan should call his publishing company. Soon after, Jackson became a staff songwriter at Campbell’s music publishing company.

Jackson hit No. 1 three times in 1991, with “I’d Love You All Over Again,” “Don’t Rock the Jukebox” and “Someday.” In 1992, he released the spooky video for “Midnight in Montgomery,” which won a CMA Award. That same year, he returned to No. 1 with “Love’s Got a Hold on You” and “She’s Got the Rhythm (And I Got the Blues).” In 1993, he spent four weeks at the top with “Chattahoochee,” which propelled the corresponding album A Lot About Livin’ (And a Little ‘Bout Love) to sales of more than 6 million copies. “Chattahoochee” won a CMA award for single of the year in 1993 and song of the year in 1994. Jackson took his first CMA entertainer trophy in 1995, coinciding almost exactly with The Greatest Hits Collection.

Following a lot of novelty hits, like “I Don’t Even Know Your Name,” Roger Miller’s “Tall, Tall Trees” and Tom T. Hall’s “Little Bitty,” Jackson then located inspiration (and chart success) in more challenging material, such as Harley Allen and Carson Chamberlain’s “Between the Devil and Me” and Kieran Kane’s “I’ll Go On Loving You.”

Although Jackson’s albums emphasize his original material, he frequently tips his hat to the sounds that molded his music. Prime examples include “Summertime Blues” (a country version of Eddie Cochran’s 1958 rockabilly smash) and “Who’s Cheatin’ Who” (a remake of Charly McClain’s 1981 hit). He took an additional action with the 1991 album, Under the Influence, offering his versions of songs made famous by Merle Haggard, Charley Pride, Conway Twitty, Don Williams, Gene Watson, Mel McDaniel and others. The album netted Jackson another Top 10 single with “Pop a Top,” a Nat Stuckey song that was a major hit for Jim Ed Brown in 1967. Other highlights included Jackson’s take on Hank Williams Jr.’s “The Blues Man.”

Others have had major hits with Jackson’s compositions as well. Among his credits are Randy Travis’ “Forever Together” and “Better Class of Losers,” Clay Walker’s “If I Could Make a Livin'” and Faith Hill’s “I Can’t Do That Anymore.”

Already one of country’s most respected songwriters, Jackson ascended to yet a higher level at the 2001 CMA Awards show when he debuted “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning).” His song about the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City stunned the awards show audience and ultimately proved to be the most honest, heartfelt song written about the tragedy.

In 2002, “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” won Jackson his first Grammy, as best country song. At the 2002 CMA Awards, the song netted Jackson song of the year and single of the year honors. That same year, Jackson received the CMA’s album of the year award for Drive while being named male vocalist and entertainer of the year. He tied Johnny Cash for the most CMA wins in a year. Drive went on to sell 4 million copies, and the title track spent several weeks at No. 1 as well.

Jackson remains a favorite of the Nashville business community, but he has occasionally commented on the country music industry in songs such as the No. 1 hit “Gone Country” (co-written with Bob McDill), “Three Minute Positive Not Too Country Up-Tempo Love Song” and his CMA award-winning collaboration with George Strait on “Murder on Music Row.” By then accustomed to sold-out concerts at massive arenas throughout the U.S., Jackson gained rave reviews from the big city media in 2002 when he took his show to the tiny confines of New York City’s premiere punk club, CBGB.

By 2003, Jackson had achieved enough chart success to warrant the release of another retrospective of his recording career. It was released in two versions — the two-CD Greatest Hits Volume II and Some Other Stuff and the single disc Greatest Hits Volume II. The album’s first single, “It truly is Five O’Clock Somewhere,” was a duet with Jimmy Buffett. The No. 1 hit was named vocal event of the year at the 2003 CMA Awards and gave Buffett his first chart-topping single — and his first major music award. That same year, Jackson won his second male vocalist CMA award and his third CMA entertainer trophy.

In 2004, he hit No. 1 with “Remember When” (from the album What I Do and toured arenas with Martina McBride. He offered Precious Memories, a gospel album originally recorded as a gift to his mother and mother-in-law, in early 2006. Later that year, he offered the critically acclaimed Like Red on a Rose, produced by Alison Krauss.

Name Alan Jackson Height 6'4 Naionality American Date of Birth October 17, 1958 Place of Birth Newnan, Georgia USA Famous for

The post Alan Jackson appeared first on Beautiful Women.

source http://topbeautifulwomen.com/alan-jackson/

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noramoya · 7 years ago

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by Denise Petski Michael Jackson’s Halloween, a new, hourlong animated special, featuring the King of Pop’s music as its soundtrack, will premiere this fall on CBS. Created and produced by Optimum Productions, the Michael Jackson company now owned by his estate, the special will feature the voices of actors Christine Baranski, Kiersey Clemons, Alan Cumming, George Eads, Brad Garrett, Lucy Liu, Jim Parsons and Lucas Till. The special follows millennials Vincent (Till) and Victoria (Clemons), who meet “accidentally” on Halloween night and find themselves, along with Ichabod the dog, at a mysterious hotel located at 777 Jackson Street called This Place Hotel. Once inside, Vincent and Victoria are sent on an unexpected, magical adventure of personal discovery, culminating in a spectacular dance finale featuring an animated Michael Jackson. John Branca and John McClain, co-executors of the Estate of Michael Jackson, serve as executive producers. Daniel Chuba is the producer and Mark A.Z. Dippé is the director. ****************************************** Many, including myself, presumed we were finally building up for the official announcement of the long promised Thriller 3D film project. Alas, although that was not to be for this go-round, we still have a project that is centered around a Halloween theme. (Update: Thriller 3D has been scheduled to premiere at the Vienna Film Festival August 30-September 9). However, the announcement had no sooner been made than a barrage of negative reactions swiftly engulfed social media. That’s really no surprise. These days, the announcement of any major MJ-related project is usually a polarizing affair, but this project, in particular, seems to have elicited a lot of strongly negative reactions-somewhat inexplicable, I think, given the overall benign nature of this project. Sure, it’s not Thriller 3D or Dangerous25 (a project that many were hoping to see come to light) but what could possibly be so wrong with an hour long animated special on a major network, featuring Michael Jackson’s best known dark themed works? Well, the answer to that question is quite complex, and to fully understand it, one must take into account how deeply divided the fan base has become over the estate executors and how deeply that issue of trust vs. mistrust has become, especially when it comes to A: Projects that profit off of his legacy, and B: How that legacy is being handled. As I have emphasized many times, I have always been and remain neutral when it comes to the politics surrounding the fandom and estate. Overall, I believe the estate has made some smart moves when it comes to preserving Michael Jackson’s legacy (This Is It, the Cirque du Soleil Immortal show and One) but also some major missteps. The controversy over the Michael album has forever tainted any posthumous music releases, and the insistence on “contemporizing” Michael’s music (rather than simply allowing the tracks to stand on their own merit) has not helped matters. True, they did manage to wrangle a Top Ten hit with the updated “Love Never Felt So Good” but, for the most part, there have been far more misses than hits with the estate’s attempts to ignite interest in a posthumous musical career for Michael Jackson. In a recent article, in fact, it was stated that there were no future plans to release anymore music from the vaults. That is a downright shame, as they are still sitting on a ton of unreleased gems that many fans want to hear. There is certainly still a market for unreleased MJ tracks; it’s just that fans want these tracks, for the most part, in their raw but pristine state, not over produced by a Timbaland or L.A. Reid to try to mimic everything else on the radio these days. I think it may be safe to assume, then, that the estate has not had a very good track record for its management of Michael Jackson’s posthumous musical output. I’ve said many times, if they had simply combined the best of the unreleased tracks on Michael (minus the controversial Cascio tracks) and the best of the demos that made it onto Xscape, they could have had a great posthumous MJ album. The tragedy is that, between the insistence on including debatable tracks (which weren’t exactly great tracks to begin with) and the insistence that every MJ track must somehow be “updated” to compete in today’s market, the estate has pretty much blown any confidence that fans may have once had in their ability to successfully market a musical career for Michael Jackson beyond the grave. And here we can certainly add that this shaky confidence has not been helped by the loss of the Sony/ATV catalog, nor the little matter of that 750 million dollar debt with Uncle Sam (which I will still be addressing in due time). However, when it comes to the musical legacy that Michael created in his lifetime-those seven adult solo albums and the many classic tracks they yielded-the outlook has been much brighter. Clearly, public demand for those songs isn’t apt to disappear any time soon, and it is in the continued public demand for those songs-as well as the continued popularity of Michael’s brand and image-that largely keeps the estate’s bread buttered. The estate’s marketing of Michael Jackson’s known works has been for the most part successful, though still occasionally marred by some questionable choices (for example, licensing the use of “Bad” for Angry Birds, a move that many felt reduced the track’s powerful political message to a silly rumble between cartoon birds). Indeed, these are the kinds of arguments and debates that continue to drive the polarization of the fandom over most estate decisions. Inevitably, some are going to argue that these decisions cheapen the message of his songs and will ultimately water down the impact of his legacy, while others argue-just as vehemently-that this is exactly the kind of exposure that will keep his music, image, and memory alive for future generations. Both arguments have their validity, and this brings me to today’s topic. Michael Jackson himself was an artist who constantly balanced the often polarizing extremes of artistic purity on the one hand, and commercialism on the other (Michael did love sales, and anyone who would wish to argue that sales did not matter to him is sadly deluded). This fact is partly what makes the posthumous marketing of Michael Jackson product a particularly challenging affair. The balance between “what Michael would have wanted,” “how Michael would have done it” and what is going to keep fans and consumers happy is a constant challenge. Even this aspect raises another interesting question: With the wealth of material and projects left behind by Michael Jackson that were completed-but have yet to receive their due-do we really need new projects that have nothing to do with him other than the lending of his name? Here in particular (especially since we are talking a Halloween special) I am referring to the short film Ghosts, a film whose re-release fans, including myself, have spent years clamoring for. As far as the general public is concerned, many are still unaware of this 1997 closet classic, which given the right promotional push and a little updated HD magic, could certainly still captivate a modern audience. Personally, I would love, love love to see Ghosts re-released as a major broadcast special. However, I do think that in all fairness, we have to consider the uphill battle that the estate is against. There are some factions simply waiting to tear down and rip to shreds anything the estate does, regardless of rhyme or reason. As soon as the announcement hit, many of the reactions across social media were viscerally over the top. Granted, I think much of the negative reaction has stemmed from a long series of gradually building disappointments over estate projects, but I’m just not sure that there is anything in the idea of a Halloween cartoon special to warrant so many hostile reactions, even if, granted, the announcement of the project may not have warranted such a major buildup. This post is not intended as an outright defense of the project-which, granted, could still turn out to be a disaster-but I would like to directly address some of the criticisms that the project has raised, and why I don’t necessarily agree with all of them. For starters, a point to consider is that this is going to be a major network broadcast, which in itself speaks volumes about the renewed faith in the Michael Jackson brand. Obviously, its target audience is going to be kids, and the plan seems to be that this might develop into one of those perennial seasonal projects that returns year after year. That will depend, of course, on ratings and the overall quality of the program, all things that have yet to be proven, but the fact that CBS is willing to take its chances and broadcast a Michael Jackson themed special geared towards children speaks volumes about how far the healing process has come in the re-branding of Michael Jackson. "

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swimintothesound · 7 years ago

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Artistic Integrity and Commercial Success | Part 1

Views From One Year Out

In February of 2015 Canadian rapper Drake released a surprise mixtape titled If You’re Reading This It's Too Late. Subject to critical acclaim, label-related conspiracy theories, and surprisingly little memery IYRTITL was a bold, beautiful, and fresh sound for Drake at the time. Second only to Queen B, If You’re Reading This was easily the second biggest surprise album of all time. The tape’s unceremonious drop was a shock to hip-hop heads the world over, made even more impactful because it represented a tonal shift for Drake that had shockingly high crossover potential. The album was followed by a high-profile beef that summer as well as a collaboration mixtape with codeine crazy Future in the early fall. It was a banner year for Drake, and (as I’ve discussed previously) IYRTITL served as one of the catalysts for my hip-hop fandom.

In 2016 Drake segued all of this attention, acclaim, and even his surprise one-off viral hit into his next release Views From the 6. Then an album years in the making, Views was supported by a massive marketing budget, a slew of singles, and months of build up on Drake’s own Apple Music station OVO Sound Radio. All signs were pointing towards a great album. How could he fail after a year like 2015??

And Views didn’t fail. At least not fully.

Initial reception to Views (both fan and professional) was middling, to say the least. With all this buildup fresh in our minds, it was hard not to go into the album with certain expectations. After a surprising, fresh, and rap-leaning album like If You’re Reading This, you’d expect some decent bars. After a high-profile rap beef (that you won) you’d expect some flexing and teeth showing. After collaborating with another artist for ten tracks, you’d expect some different sounds to enter your musical lexicon. None of this happened. Some of it did, but the little that did was a half-assed version of what we expected. Views ended up being a long, masturbatory rehash of things Drake had already done better. Perhaps worst of all, it was safe. He didn’t experiment, he didn’t grow, he didn’t take any risks whatsoever.

Months after release after all the dust has settled, Views is just an okay album. It’s serviceable. It’s just serviceable. From a sonic perspective, it feels as if 2015 just didn’t happen. It was like he fully embraced a genre, had all these new experiences, and then just threw it all away to pick up where he left off two years before. It was disappointing, but like a battered wife, I’ve come to enjoy Views for what it is. I still think it’s a bland, boring, overly long piece of mediocrity, but at the end of the day, it’s just okay.

The only problem is that the album performed phenomenally.

It’s gone on to sell one million copies, accumulate 1 billion streams, and have the most successful Spotify song of all time. So he did something right... right?

Within weeks of the album's release, fans began to worry that Drake would see the numbers attached to Views and then go on to think “oh, okay, so this is what fans want.” Rapper, oldhead, and noted curmudgeon Joe Budden released a series of diss tracks directed at Drake with the sole purpose of “inspiring” him to do great work again. Fans and peers alike wanted to send the message that despite all the accolades and commercial success, Views was not a successful album. It was a plea to Drake. Please don’t settle. We’ve seen you do better. Don’t mistake numbers for success.

Birds and Vultures

Fast forward to 2017 and the reason that I dug this draft out of my cobweb-laden Google Drive folder. I love Travis Scott, but lately, he feels like he’s been on a similar trajectory to Drake. His 2015 album Rodeo is one of the reasons I “stuck around” to see what else the genre of rap had to offer. It's one of my favorite albums of 2015, and I firmly believe that it’s a “trap masterpiece” that will be viewed as a turning point for the genre years from now. It’s lush, well-produced, and brimming with new sounds and ideas, unlike anything I’d ever heard in hip-hop or music.

I loved Rodeo and Travis Scott’s aesthetic so much that I spent the summer of 2016 revisiting his previous release Days Before Rodeo and listened to it so much that it currently sits at my seventh most listened to album of all time on last.fm. I feel the need say this to preface what I’m about to say. I love Trav, but lately, his output has been piss-poor.

In September of 2016 (after almost a year of delays and broken promises) Travis Scott released his highly-anticipated follow-up to Rodeo titled Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight. Birds faced a similar fate to Views in that it followed an awesome predecessor and was accompanied by months of hype and built-up expectations, yet failed to deliver across the board. Also similarly to Views, Birds in the Trap was inexplicably commercially successful. Racking up over 50 million streams in its first week, Birds became Travis’ first number one album, and (again) fans were worried that the artist may be receiving the wrong message.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about this “successful paranoia” exhibited by fans (myself included) and whether or not it’s warranted. It’s a very hipster-esque notion of discovering an artist and viewing their older work as superior, but it’s also about wanting to dictate (or at least guide) an artist and their work. It’s not wanting them to become too pop-influenced, or commercial sounding. It’s wanting them to retain some level of edge and originality in the face of an “easy” way out.

At the end of the day, someone is listening to these songs. It may be kids, and it may be fans, but either way, some message is being sent. At the same time, you have to respect these individuals as artists who will create whatever they feel the need to express. If an artist creates something solely based off of financial success, then they’re not much of an artist, are they? If I put out a song that makes me a million dollars in a week and then I sat down to write a similar song with the sole purpose of recreating that success… then I’m not really an artist, am I? I’d just be chasing that commercial high. I’d be creating art in the process sure, but it wouldn’t be coming from an artistic place.

To make an extreme pivot: for all I know, “The Twist” may have come from a deeply human place, but “Let’s Twist Again” sure as hell didn’t. That’s commercialism informing art. That’s an artist (literally) saying let’s do that again like we did last year.

Not that Drake is 2016’s Chubby Checker (or is he?), but I think that comparison is at least an interesting one to make. The internet shouldn’t dictate art or artists. Whether it’s through sales numbers, or through holier-than-thou commenters who think they know what direction an artist should go in. It’s easy to say “follow your heart” from the sidelines because there are millions of individuals whose livelihoods depend on the sale and perpetuation of music, but I firmly believe that the artist should be free to create. Your album should be an expression of what you feel. It shouldn’t be based on sales, your peers, or even your fans. Music is a sacred form of communication, and we’re not meant to understand all of it. If you’re worried about Drake creating an album similar to Views based solely off of him seeing that success and trying to recreate it, then Drake isn’t worth listening to anyway.

Read Part 2 Here

Read Part 3 Here

Read Part 4 Here

#Drake #travis scott #views #more life #birds in the trap sing mcknight #hip-hop #music #tunes #review #Chubby Checker #integrity

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ulyssessklein · 7 years ago

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The 5 things you’re afraid of when you put out new music (and how to cure the fright)

Fear can come in many varieties for an artist who’s just about to release a new album or single. Everything feels heightened when this music you’ve poured so much into is about to meet the world. The excitement, the doubt, the highs, the lows.

Here are some of the more common fears you might be feeling before your new sound drops.

“The songs are crap”

By the time your song is ready for distribution, you’re sick to death of it. You wrote it, you revised it, you practiced, tracked, mixed, and mastered it. The mystery is gone, if there ever was any to begin with (since you’re the architect of the composition). And you’re light years from the initial burst of enthusiasm or inspiration which made the hint of the song worth following.

Here’s the good news: that initial enthusiasm probably wasn’t wrongheaded. If the song was exciting enough for you to choose to record, and if you ran it through some kind of quality-control process with your producer, band-mates, co-writer, or other collaborator, it could be every bit as good as you thought it was once upon a time. To new ears, it could be all surprises, fresh insights, exciting hooks, and catchy melodies.

Don’t always trust your final assessment; don’t always doubt the way you USED to feel. And if you find yourself comparing yourself to your favorite geniuses of song, stop. You’re in awe of them because they’ve done something you couldn’t. Someone else might be in awe of you for the exact same reason.

“The sound is s$!t”

As you’re listening back to this track a billion times, not only is the magic of the song wearing off, but the magic of the SOUND is dying too. You hear every “imperfection,” until eventually the only thing you hear is imperfection. It’s too lo-fi. It’s not punchy enough. The vocals are out of tune. My voice sounds funny. The beats are cliche.

Some of your concerns may be warranted, but some of them probably aren’t. I’ve been known to lose sleep over details so minor that my engineers either can’t hear them or — in some cases — they have the opposite emotional reaction to me and think the thing I’m worried about actually enhances the track.

Most of the things that make me cringe in my own recordings aren’t even noticed by a casual listener. Are you freaking out over nothing too?

“No one will hear it”

The expression “fall on deaf ears” implies that your music gets to fall on some ears in the first place. You’re worried about something worse than falling on deaf ears: that your music will sit online for all eternity and only be streamed via Forgotify — an app that plays songs that have never been played on Spotify.

There are millions of those songs, so maybe this fear isn’t unfounded. But the good news is you can do something about it. You might not have a label pumping cash into a radio or streaming promotion campaign, or have a huge budget for PR or video production, but there are countless small actions you can take to “promote” your music (meaning, simply, to get someone to want to hear it). This blog is full of those ideas. If you’re succumbing to this fear, make a plan, put into action, and adjust accordingly.

“No one will like it”

There’s a big different between “no one will like my music” and “everyone won’t love it.”

Embrace “everyone won’t love it” and forget about the first fear.

Remember, you can’t please everybody. You probably can’t even please most people. That’s why there are 600+ genres in CD Baby’s music store.

Hell, my wife doesn’t like THE BEATLES! (No accounting for taste).

But if you can impress a small percentage of a huge population, or a high percentage of a small population, you have a hit in the making. So don’t cast your net so wide that you’re heartbroken any time someone dislikes or is indifferent to the music you create.

And as for bad press, I think we musicians forget that most people aren’t starting their day by jumping on some music blog to devour the latest reviews. They’re living their lives. Keep living yours too. That experience is what connects you to your audience, not how many stars your latest album was awarded by tastemaker du jour.

“I won’t recoup”

At CD Baby we’ve heard from artists saying things like “well I spent three years and $10,000 on this so I need to charge $25 per album to get it back.”

Firstly, that’s not how things work. Your music doesn’t become more valuable the more you spend making it.

Secondly, that’s kind of a crappy attitude to take into a recording project — that the primary goal (and the primary fear) is financial in nature. I mean, OF COURSE you want to recoup. You’ve probably spent lots of time, money, and more on this recording. But no one else is going to value it in those terms. They just hear the music.

If you lose money making a record, but it leads to lots of paid gig opportunities, could that be a success? If you don’t recoup directly through sales and streaming revenue, but one of the songs on your album gets a solid sync placement, could that be a success? If you don’t recoup, but you make enough of it back that you have some cash to record another album next year, is that a success? I say yes to all of those questions.

I get it; you can’t just put every release on the credit card and let fate handle the rest. You have to make smart money decisions. But those smart decisions can be made BEFORE you start recording too. If you really need to recoup your $10k recording expenses and you don’t think you can do it, don’t spend that much recording!

The last and most general of the pre-release fears is this: “It won’t get me anywhere.”

You’re worried this release won’t be the stepping stone you initially envisioned it to be. Guess what: it won’t be! Nothing works out exactly the way you dream it. That doesn’t mean it won’t come close, or be a success in some other way you hadn’t anticipated.

Instead of losing sleep over how this music might not hit all the targets you’ve set, be open to the opportunities it DOES create and follow those. At the very least you’ll have grown as an artist, gained experience promoting your music, and learned from what worked and didn’t. That’s not nothing, and you’re further along than you would’ve been otherwise.

And seriously, it’s something to celebrate for just having the guts to put your creativity out there in the first place. As much music as there is being made today, it’s still good to remember MOST people aren’t producing and releasing music. So do a little dance, and write another song.

Distribute your music with CD Baby to set yourself up for success: includes global streaming, download and CD/vinyl sales, YouTube monetization, sync licensing, free marketing tools from Show.co, and more.

The post The 5 things you’re afraid of when you put out new music (and how to cure the fright) appeared first on DIY Musician Blog.

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weekinethereum · 7 years ago

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July 9, 2017

Ethereum News and Links

Top

Laura Shin's cryptobubble article put Olaf Carlson-Wee on the cover of Forbes . . . and apparently popped the bubble

ETH Gas Station -- what's new in version 2.0

Tons of phishing attacks the past week or so -- mainly fake MyEtherWallet sites spammed through Slack, but hardly limited to MEW. Don't click links.

The phisher moved some Eth to Bittrex

Zug is giving all residents a uPort identity

Great example of the Jurisdictional Competition post from Fred Wilson. That post came out of this series of Jason Calcanis and Fred tweets

Exhibit B: Mauritius is recruiting ConsenSys to turn the island into a blockchain hub

Protocol

Latest Youtube of Casper standup

Updated sharding github repo

Vitalik Reddit comments rehashing what currently sucks about Ethereum and technical debt

"Discouragement attacks" - Vitalik

Vitalik's comprehensive Q2 Roundup

Stuff for developers

Securify: a web interface tool for formal verification of Solidity and bytecode. Also read the Reddit thread

Ox.js: "hook into...contracts from a client-side web application"

A practical guide to cheap IPFS hash storage in an Ethereum smart contract

Clone any contract for 66k gas

Part 3 of Daniel Ellison's series on LLL

Writing Smart Contracts With Truffle - a guide for devs new to Ethereum

Also Dick Olsson's guide

Bug bounty leaderboard #1 Martin Holst Swende analysis on how miners can frontrun Bancor contracts. Here's an ELI5: don't use market orders.

Releases

Solidity 0.4.13, a bug fix for this week's v0.4.12

'throw' is deprecated

py-solc 1.2.0 is out

Ecosystem

How much it costs in gas to bet on each of the Ethereum gaming sites

Blockchain for Social Impact Coalition to help non-profits figure out how Ethereum can help further their mission

RAC is releasing an album through Ujo Music. It's only been about 6 weeks since RAC's Ethtrader post.

Tokenize Wikipedia. See also Curation Markets whitepaper

A list of the week's new projects added to Ether Casts

Latest issue of The Etherian

Stephan Tual on PolkaDot

Gavin Wood talks PolkaDot at Eth London meetup

Is frictionless Ethereum and dapp usage possible?

Project Announcements & White papers

Grid+ whitepaper is out. If that link goes down, try their website.

Mattereum - Vinay Gupta white paper on legally enforceable smart contracts

Project Updates

First Blood locks up tokens for founders until "wide" adoption

Iconomi June update

Melonport June Update

Aragon Q2 Update

Brass Golem v 0.7 alpha

Colony's quarterly update

Interviews and Talks

Arthur Falls talks to Numerai

Erik Voorhees on Epicenter

Colony's Jack du Rose & Aron Fischer podcast chat with Aaron Watson

Jordi Baylina and Griff Green talk Metropolis on Youtube

Tyler Smith on the EnergyMakers podcast

Token Sale Projects

A quick look at the Santiment token sale distribution

DA Power Play: digital asset trading automation

Updates from the district0x Network

Token Sales

Coinfund's Alex Bulkin: The biggest cryptoasset by marketcap within 5 years will be an apptoken

Mougayar: Token sale funding exceeds VC funding.

Zeppelin unveils Coral: a standardized ERC20 token fundraising platform

General

Vitalik humorously responds to the litany of Bitcoin maximalist objections

Sunny Aggarwal and Nate Rush with an ELI20 for Tezos

Speculative, but: what's driving EOS demand

How I bought and setup my ENS name

IRS narrows the extent of its Coinbase fishing expedition

WTF is Ethereum?

Paul Vigna covers token sales in the WSJ

Thinking about locked up ether when modeling demand for ETH

DevCon3 is now sold out.

Dates of note

From Token Sale Calendar:

Upcoming token sale start dates:

July 11 – InsureX

July 11 – Suretly

July 12 – Dent

July 14 – Autoria

July 16 – Agrello

July 17 – Coindash

July 18 – ACT

July 18 – district0x

July 19 – Aventus

July 20 – Propy

July 23 – MyBit

July 24 – Everex

July 24 – TribeToken

July 31 – RexMLS

August 1 – Harbour DAO

August 8 – Decentraland

August 8 – Indorse

August 15 – Ox Protocol (mandatory registration Aug 9-12)

August 22 - Monetha

September 5 – Viberate

September 13 – Unikoin

Ongoing token sales:

Fund Yourself Now

Blocktix

Macroverse

NeverDie

Dentacoin

DAO.casino

You can find this calendar updated daily at TokenSaleCalendar.com

Errors or additions: [first name] @ticketleap.com or tweet @evan_van_ness

Newsletter housekeeping

Some time in early August, there will be an announcement that I've joined ConsenSys. Here's a logo to draw your eye in case you were going to skip over this section:

My charge from Joe Lubin is pretty similar to what Status has told me: keep telling the truth and covering the space objectively, even if the truth hurts.

The link for sharing

The best compliment you can give this is to share or upvote: http://www.weekinethereum.com/post/162868984513/july-9-2017

Follow me on Twitter? @evan_van_ness

This newsletter is supported by Status.im. But in case you still want to send Ether (or tokens?): 0x96d4F0E75ae86e4c46cD8e9D4AE2F2309bD6Ec45

#ethereum #ether

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