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| Pop Shots - This Doesn’t Make Sense |
| Monday, December 09, 2013 |
Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from One Direction’s unlikely place in history, to more honors for Miley Cyrus, to Jay Z’s odd way of celebrating his latest birthday, and since it’s Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.
* With Midnight Memories moving of 546,000 units this past week, One Direction became the first group to ever have their first three albums debut at the top of the Billboard 200 album chart. In a related story, Simon Cowell just had the world’s first audible smirk.
* Drake, known for “starting from the bottom” of Degrassi, has inked a shoe deal with Jordan Brand. The rapper reportedly already has concepts for sneaker designs, but the idea of Drake creating sneakers is a little weird, because sneakers are supposed to improve your game, not make you cry about it.
* In news that makes it clear R. Kelly doesn’t realize we’re laughing at him, and not with him, the R&B singer, and occasional teenage girl philanderer, has announced he’s continuing his “Trapped in the Closet” saga, with new chapters set to air on IFC in 2014. The one good thing about this is that it allows us to revisit one of Weird Al’s most impressive parodies of the past decade, “Trapped in the Drive-Thru.”
* Just one week after hackers aimed to make Miley Cyrus Time’s Person of the Year, the magazine, which I hope doesn’t remedy that situation, has given the pop songstress two other honors, listing her on both their best, and worst, dressed lists. I’m saddened to report these are two more lists that I have somehow been left off of. C’mon, Time, don’t you see these sweatpants, man!
* In more Miley news, Barbara Walters has named the singer one of her Most Fascinating People of the Year. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Miley tries to teach Walters how to twerk during the TV special. That’s my definition of “Must See TV.”
* Amanda Bynes is back in action after completing her inpatient treatment for whatever the heck it was that was making her Twitter account so dang interesting. The former bong toss champion reportedly now wants to go to college to study fashion design. Let’s just hope the fashion design ideas come from the Amanda Bynes on the left, and not the one on the right.
* Jay Z decided to celebrate his 44th birthday by changing his diet, as he announced he and Beyonce are going vegan... but just until Christmas. Personally, I’m hoping it sticks, if only so we can hear Jay boast about being the brontosaurus of rap.
* Streaming music subscription service BeatsMusic.com, which is a collaboration between Dr. Dre and Trent Reznor, will be ready to launch in January. Many consider it serious competition for Spotify and Pandora. I think it’s yet another side project to help Dre completely avoid ever releasing Detox.
* Finally, DJ Earworm has released his annual mash-up of the year’s most popular songs, and it’s pretty awesome.
And with that, my time is up for the week, but I'll be back next week with more shots on all things pop.
Labels: Pop Shots |
posted by Adam Bernard @ 7:00 AM  |
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| Vid Pick: Joey Batts - Brainsgiving |
| Friday, December 06, 2013 |
The Walking Dead had its mid-season finale this past Sunday, so you might be craving some zombie killing action right about now. Fear not, Joey Batts’ “Brainsgiving” is exactly what you’re looking for! The clip is an homage to biggest show in cable TV history, and it features zombies, blood, guts, and Joey Batts and a handful of his friends attempting to survive the apocalyptic conditions.
“Brainsgiving” isn’t for the faint of heart, but if you’re looking for zombie slaying hip-hop videos on the internet, I’m guessing you’re not easily frightened.
As an aside, after seeing this high quality, highly creative, clip you’ll really wonder what the big budget rappers are spending their money on when they make their cliched music videos. Congrats on renting some fancy cars, and hiring some models, I’ll take an actual story line, and zombie slaying, over that kind of thing any day of the week!
Labels: Vid Picks |
| posted by Adam Bernard @ 7:00 AM |
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| Fresh ABX Podcast - December ’13 |
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The other day, Flash, who is the fearless leader of RapReviews.com, managed to work into a conversation that he’d really dig a new ABX Podcast. I hope everyone else feels the same way, because I was so inspired by the request that I put together the longest ABX Podcast yet! With 16 songs, and just enough of me talking my face off, I have 75+ minutes for your enjoyment here. So if you need a gift wrapping soundtrack this holiday season, here are some gifted rappers for you to check out.
You can stream, or download, this show at RapReviews.com
Playlist
Snow Tha Product w/ Tech N9ne - You’re Welcome
Toussaint Morrison - The Ballad Of Rad Campbell
Coole High w/ K. Gaines - Ends
5:am w/ Meta Musick & James Joyce - On Our Job
World’s Fair - Sammy Sosa
Ankhle Conscious - I Give You Aids(s)
Ceschi - Love Song For The Apocalypse
Louis Logic - A Day Late And A Dollar Short
Dead Celebrity Status w/ Bea - Hurts Like...
Dessa - The Man I Knew
YC The Cynic - HVNLY
Botzy w/ Sophia Eris & Chants Erolin - Waiting For A Moment
Joey Batts - Notebook
Jesse Abraham - The Scene
Big Stat w/ Tahmell - Kinda Like A Big Deal
Dan Dillinger w/ BS - Loud
Labels: Podcasts |
| posted by Adam Bernard @ 7:00 AM |
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| Pop Shots - Let’s Have Some Fun |
| Monday, December 02, 2013 |
Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from hackers attempting to help Miley Cyrus win a very big honor, to Pharrell’s joy filled 24 hour music video, to our favorite person on Chatroulette making the “Wrecking Ball” video you didn’t know you needed to see, and since it’s Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.
* Because sometimes hackers are awesome, Time’s Person of the Year voting has hit a bit of a snag. More precisely, it’s been hit by a wrecking ball, as a couple fun loving hackers have made it so Miley Cyrus has taken a commanding lead in the race. Interestingly, Robin Thicke is not right behind her, grinding away.
* Kanye West continued his never-ending Make and Ass Out Of Myself During Interviews Tour, which hit multiple locations this past week, including Hot 97, Power 105, and Shade 45. While on air at the latter, Kanye exploded on industry veteran Sway when the radio host asked Kanye, “Why don’t you empower yourself, and do it yourself?” Kanye responded with the forever quotable answer, “You ain’t got the answers, Sway!” In a related story, Sway is totally invited to play Clue with my friends and I. We’ll let him put the cards for the person, place, and murder weapon, in the special envelope, so we can definitively say Sway has all the answers.
* Glee’s Lea Michelle, banking on the success her show had four years ago, will be making her debut album, Louder, available for pre-order on December 10th. The lead single off of Louder will be “Cannonball,” which is genius, because everybody knows if you want to make it in this business you have to remind everyone of an alt-rock classic you can’t possibly live up to.
* Pharrell released the world’s first 24-hour music video when his latest creation, “Happy,” hit the net on November 24th. Current executives at MTV heard about it and said, “24 hours of music videos? Who would ever want something like that?”
* Toy company GoldieBox has removed its promotional video that featured a parody of the Beastie Boys’ classic “Girls.” The company’s founder also plans on dropping the (insane) lawsuit GoldieBox filed against the group for the right to spoof the song, a lawsuit they filed after learning the Beastie Boys were threatening their own legal action for copyright infringement. A preemptive lawsuit? I’m tellin all a y’all, that was an attempt at sabotage!
* In much happier parody news, Seth Rogan and James Franco melted the internet last week with their shot for shot parody of Kanye West’s “Bound 2” video. By now everyone on the planet has seen the clip, but if you haven’t seen it side by side with the original, I have that for ya right here!
* In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Justin Bieber revealed Will Smith counsels him on a weekly basis. This is great, because we all know how well Jaden is turning out.
* The Muppets had a Thanksgiving special that featured, among others, Lady Gaga. In a related story, Lady Gaga can’t wait for you to see her new Muppet fur coat.
* Three years ago a man named Steve Kardynal won the internet over by spending a lot of time on Chatroulette lip syncing, and dancing to, Lady Gaga’s “Telephone.” The resultant video was internet gold, and although the clips he followed it with were also popular, nothing truly matched the “Telephone” video’s greatness until his just released clip where he gives the Chatroulette treatment to Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball.” My favorite aspect of the video is how many people start singing along, but in all honesty, the entire thing is completely amazing.
And with that, my time is up for the week, but I'll be back next week with more shots on all things pop.
Labels: Pop Shots |
| posted by Adam Bernard @ 7:00 AM |
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