Miguel has completed the final chapter of his Art Dealer Chic series with the release of Vol. 3. The EP boasts three songs, two of which are new. The second track, Ooh Ahh! was first heard on Miguel’s first amazing Mixtape Mischief which we featured back in 2010.

The other two tracks find the artist venturing into some new territory. Party Life is futuristic and reminiscent of something Prince might have done post Purple Rain. Candles in the Sun has Miguel getting philosophical on society over a very dirty beat.

Vol. 3 is a solid conclusion to a successful music mix tape campaign. Listen below or download the full EP here.

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Post tags: Art Dealer Chic Vol. 3, Melt in your Ears, Miguel, Mischief, New Music, R&B music

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Alicia Keys was quick to remind her millions of followers on Facebook that her new artist, Scottish singer Emeli Sande would be performing on the Conan O’Brien show last night.  This was Emeli’s USA television debut performance.  Keys and Sande have worked together on a song titled Hope for Emeli’s upcoming album. Emeli has also revealed in recent interviews that she will also be collaborating with Keys for her upcoming album as well.

In said interview, Emeli describes her connection with Alicia and reveals their plans to work together again:

On her goal as an artist:
“While it’s very nice to be noticed, I’m not seduced by fame. What I want is for my music to be remembered. That’s what one of my heroines Nina Simone achieved for herself and no way could you call her an artist who was always on the airwaves.”

On the state of music today:
“These days nothing lasts. Music is like fast food – you’re in, then out. We choose and consume, feast and forget, then rush on to the next hot thing. There’s no point chasing that kind of success because it’s so transient. Far better to follow your own path and be true to yourself.”

On her discovering Alicia at age 16:
“I’d read about her background and identified with her on so many levels. She was mixed race like me, a great student who’d been top of her class, who played piano and loved Nina Simone. And there she was in the pop charts, yet with songs that had a message. I saw 16,000 people hanging on her every word and thought, ‘I want this kind of attention. I want Alicia to know my music.’”

On collaborating with Alicia:
“We’re writing for her next album and I go back out to the US at the end of the month to join her again. There’s one song that we wrote together called Hope, which is on my album too. It’s fantastic.”

On Frank Ocean:
“I went to see [him] play recently. It’s his lyrics and the tone of his voice that do it for me. He’s like a modern day Prince and very special.”

Source

Emeli does not have the most memorable voice, but her vocals are impeccably clean and her live performances evoke a kind of emotion. Each note is on point! She has a bright future ahead of her.

Check out video footage of her performance below.

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Read the rest of Melt in Your Ears: Emeli Sande performs US Debut on Conan O’Brien (1 words)

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Post tags: Alicia Keys, Conan O'Brien, Emeli Sande, live performance, Melt in your Ears, Next to Me

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I know I am late on this. Toronto crooner TheWeeknd dazzled at the Coachella music festival this past Monday. I have seen some shaky performances by the reclusive signer who gained underground fanfare while releasing three mixtapes in the past year and a half. The OVOXO artist makes some great sounding music, but his vocals often leave much to be desired.

Abel Tesfaye redeemed himself in my eyes with an almost full hour set spanning many of his hits including The Party, Crew Love, The Knowing and Wicked Games. Most of Weeknd’s songs involve slow-moving, moody music and I often wondered about his potential to make an actual feel-good song. I would say Crew Love fills that void. But more importantly, the Weeknd, puts on an intriguing show and actually captivated with his vocals. Even with all his off-key singing, one could not stop listening. Sort of like a male version of Rihanna.  Impressive. Peep the video and set list below.

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Read the rest of Sweet Tooth: The Weeknd’s Impressive Coachella performance (44 words)

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Post tags: Coach, Coachella 2012, Live Music, Sweet Tooth, The Weeknd, Toronto Music

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Crooner/Songwriter Frank Ocean recently re-leased the video for his timeless single, Thinkin About You. The video, direct by the Hi5 Collective was actually  released last year but has now been officially released by Def Jam via Vevo. I noticed Frank’s label is putting the crackdown on Ocean’s affinity for giving away free music and video. Gotta love the Major Label treatment.

In true Frank Ocean fashion, the video is offbeat and unexpected as it follows the storyline of a sick girl in a coma, some primitive folk asked to help her and a young man who is out of his element in trying to help. Not quite what I expected for this song. The video leaves some unanswered questions as well.

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Read the rest of ChokLit’s Choice: Frank Ocean debuts new video for Thinkin’ About Forever + Coachella Performance Footage (57 words)

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Post tags: ChokLit's Choice, Coachella 2012, Frank Ocean, Live Music, Thinking About You

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Little surprise that Rapper/Singer Nicki Minaj has topped the Billboard 200 charts with her sophomore CD Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded. Minaj bowed out at number one with 253,000 albums sold. I have heard mixed reviews from the album. But Nicki has some hits on the album. Beez in the Trap is getting some airplay and Nicki’s yougner fans will love songs like Starships – which is currently #5 on the iTunes chart.

I’m guessing Baby didn’t need to buy a good 250, 000 albums this time around…

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Meanwhile, Pop queen and Nicki collaborator Madonna enjoyed a huge sales week last week when she topped the charts with 359,000 albums sold. But this week, Madge could not hold on to fans as she only moved 48,000 units in her second week, representing a 86.7% sales drop – the highest of all time. Ouch!  Madonna detractors (there are a lot of them these days) are crying foul!

Rolling Stone explains the theory behind it all:

First, like Amazon’s price-slashing of the Gaga album last year, Madonna boosted sales with a concert-ticket-plus-CD promotion (Prince did the same in 2004), so the anomaly was really the high first-week number. Second, every veteran star seems to strike a big first week followed by a precipitous decline these days. Just a few weeks ago, Bruce Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball suffered a 71 percent drop in its second week. Third, Madonna’s record company is essentially a concert promoter, Live Nation, and it could care less about record sales as long as fans buy $350 tickets for her tour.

Basically, Music stars and their labels are hungry for the publicity that comes with a hit first week album. Big surprise.

SN: Her album cover is still very HAWT!!

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Post tags: Live Nation, Madonna, MDNA, Minaj, Music News ROLO, Nicky, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, Record Sales, YMCM Records

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Yesterday, Drake dropped the video for Take Care, the solemn dance song that features vocals from Rihanna. Director Yoanne Lemoine uses a grayscale shade for the video and slow motion, zoom-in effects to match the song’s somber  tone. Rihanna gives good smize all throughout the video. A nice touch.  View the video below.

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Read the rest of ChokLit Fresh: Drake drops two new videos, Take Care & HYFR (10 words)

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Post tags: Director X, Drake, Hip Hop Music, HYFR, Lil Wayne, Rihanna, Take Care, Yoanne Lemoine

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Hip hop fans received quite the Choklit treat tonight as Kanye West dropped his new song Theraflu, on Funkmaster Flex’s radio show. The song, a collaboration with DJ Khaled may be on Khaled’s new compilation album, titled Kiss the Ring. Produced by Hit Boy (N*ggas in Paris), the track sounds simplistic yet frantic. Kanye attacks the track, throwing a couple jabs in there for good measure.

 

The most salacious lines focus on Kim Kardashian, as Yeezy throws out a threat against her ex-husband, Kris Humphries: “And I’ll admit, I fell in love with Kim/’Round the same time she fell in love with him/Well, that’s cool, baby girl, do your thang/Lucky I didn’t have Jay drop him from the team,” he raps. Humphries, of course, plays for Jay-Z’s New Jersey Nets.

Source

Haaaa!

Also look out of Ye’ to release Mercy, this Friday – G.O.O.D Friday, the first single from the upcoming G.O.O.D Music compilation album.

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Post tags: DJ Khaled, G.O.O.D Music, Hip Hop Music, Hit Boy, Kanye West, Theraflu

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Roc Nation artist Rita Ora has released the video to her new single, R.I.P, that features London rapper Tinnie Tempah. The song was written by Drake with help from Toronto singer/songwriter Shi Wisdom. Drake originally recorded his version called, I’m Ready for Ya (which is the best version, in my opinion).  Next, it was meant for Rihanna’s LOUD album, but never meant the cut. Now, London-based singer Rita Ora has dusted off the song, added a hot rapper to it and called it her own. I should also mention that both songs sample the chorus from Nigerian/German singer Nneka’s song, Heartbeat.

The machine behind Rita is the same one that pushes mega star Rihanna. So naturally, Roc Nation is using the same image-based strategy to push Rita, who actually is a good singer.

RIP, however, is NOT the song for Rita. She has no swag on a song that was clearly written for the Bajan beauty. I am actually surprised this is the final version of the song because Rita has no presence on it at all. The style of the video, the close-up beauty shots of  Rita with a bright light, the style of her clothes (I am aware it is the London scene look that Rihanna also adopted) is just all too copycat. Tinnie Tempah also does nothing for me. And I LOVE London rappers….

The whole time watching this video I was thinking, what about Bridget Kelly??

Watch the video below. What do you guys think?

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Read the rest of Before They Blow-Pop! *Video* Rita Ora does her best Rihanna Impression with “R.I.P” (25 words)

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Post tags: Drake, London Music, New Music, Nneka, R.I.P, Rihanna, Rita Ora, Shi Wisdom, Tinnie Tempah, Urban Music

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Ameriie – who had added an extra i to her name within the last year has emerged with another go at the music scene with her new single Every Time. The airy production with hip hop snares is courtesy of producer Focus. Ameriie’s voice seems to get better with age because her voice hasn’t skipped a beat since her One Thing days.

Ameriie sings:

Every time I close my eyes,

Every time I close my eyes,

All I see is you (all I see is you)

Every time I hear your name

Every time my phone rings I’m missing you

Nothing ground-breaking here, but the production, combined with Ameriie’s vocals make for a great-sounding track! Here’s hoping Ameriie gets some shine from this one.

Every Time will appear on Ameriie’s upcoming new album, The Prelude…

Listen to the track below.

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Read the rest of Buttah of the Week! Ameriie Re-visits older sound with Every Time (6 words)

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Post tags: Ameriie, Every Time, Focus, New Music, R&B music, The Prelude

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Last week, Singer/Songwriter Miguel released a series of snippets from his upcoming ArtDealerChic Vol. 2 EP – the follow-up to Vol. 1 which he released earlier in March. Thankfully, Miguel did not make his fans wait too long to hear his new music.

Vol. 2 boasts three new tracks:

Arch & Point

…..All

and Broads

For the song Broads, Miguel actually leaves the verses open for all aspiring Artists and fans to make their own Remix to the song. Its a dope tracks artists – get on that!!

Toronto Rapper Quinn Maybach recorded a remix to the track.
If you guys see any other notable remixes, make sure you send them my way!

Download the Vol. 2 HERE.

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Post tags: ArtDealerChic Vol. 2, EP, Miguel, New Music, Quinn Maybach, Toronto Music, Urban Music

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