Pink Friday

Nicki Minaj's "Pink Friday"; Hip-Hop/Rap; Young Money Entertainment

There's something very ordinary about Pink Friday, which came out last Friday, that is very extraordinary in itself. The main problem is that half of the album is fantastic and the other half is a run-of-the-mill hip-hop album. I'll admit to being a Nicki Minaj enthusiast, I had anticipated her album for about a year after listening to one of her mixtapes online. What happens with most of these artists is they're forced to be more broadly accepted and assuming they had any credibility to begin with, it diminishes as a result. Such is the case with Pink Friday. There are some songs ("Dear Old Nicki", "Your Love", to an extent "Blazin'") that seem somewhat inspired and its easy to tell that unless Minaj is a good freestyler, the songs weren't made in an hour. On the other hand, several songs ("Fly", "Check It Out", "Moment 4 Life") scream 'filler'; it makes sense that her record label would ask her to add these songs, considering there aren't a lot of female rappers out there, how would they make her bankable? Unfortunately by asking her to sing. Don't get me wrong, I added "Your Love" as one of the songs I enjoy so I obviously don't mind her voice, but her talent is in rapping not singing. Another thing the album suffers from is an abundance of featured artists: Eminem, Rihanna, Drake, will.i.am, Kanye West, Natasha Bedingfield, etc. The whole point of a debut is to make sure the artist's voice is heard. For the most part, the featured artists actually hurt the flow of the songs (the latter half of "Blazin"). I hate to say that I expected more from Minaj but I suppose its not her fault.

Rating: Download

New Music Monday

Which two major albums were released this week? (Or more appropriately, today and last Friday). Pink Friday by Nicki Minaj and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West. Here's the problem: Neither album has been out long enough, sans leaks, for me to properly review. So I'll post songs I like from each one and update later with a review of both.

Kanye West:

Nicki Minaj:

Flashback Friday Theme: Mariah Carey

How have I not had a Mariah Carey Flashback Friday? I listen to her more than I honestly should, considering it's 2010 and not 1995. Regardless, enjoy some MC hits I sure did when I first moved here from Washington:

Just wanted to point out that YouTube won't let me embed "Heartbreaker" which is such a shame because that's one of my favourite songs by her.

Pre-Flashback Friday: 11/18/2010

Tomorrow is Flashback Friday. Is it possible for me to objectively review Mariah Carey? No? Alright, I'll just leave this wonderful song here then

Local Tastes: The Kidd Emcee

During a standard search through tumblr users, I stumbled upon the profile of an aspiring rapper from a nearby school. So assuming he finds this post, I hope he takes this as sincere appreciation and doesn't think I'm a stalker. Although I wouldn't blame him.

Artist: The Kidd Emcee

Album(s) Released: 2010 Mixtape; 2010 Bonus Trax

Location: Greater Sacramento Area

Age: High Schooler

Website: http://thekiddemcee.tumblr.com/

Download his albums here and here.

Artist of the Week: Shad

Biography: Shad is a Kenyan-born, Rwandan hip hop musician based in London, Ontario, Canada. So far he's had three albums: When This Is Over (2005), The Old Prince (2007), and TSOL (2010).

His latest album, TSOL, was released on May 25th, 2010 though only in Canada through independent label "Black Box Recordings". The album features a few relatively known independent Canadian acts like Justin Nozuka and Broken Social Scene.

Most Listened to Song: Rose Garden from TSOL

For more about Shad, please visit his blog.

Oscar Predictions!

My favourites are indicated by an X and my predictions by an O

Best actor in a leading role Oscars 2010 nominees
* Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight) O
* George Clooney in “Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
* Colin Firth in “A Single Man” (The Weinstein Company) X
* Morgan Freeman in “Invictus” (Warner Bros.)
* Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment)

Best actor in a supporting role Oscars 2010 nominees
* Matt Damon in “Invictus” (Warner Bros.)
* Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger” (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
* Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station” (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones” (DreamWorks in association with Film4, Distributed by Paramount)
* Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) X O

Best actress in a leading role Oscars 2010 nominees (No favourites)
* Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side” (Warner Bros.) O
* Helen Mirren in “The Last Station” (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Carey Mulligan in “An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate)
* Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia” (Sony Pictures Releasing)

Best actress in a supporting role Oscars 2010 nominees
* Penélope Cruz in “Nine” (The Weinstein Company)
* Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
* Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight)
* Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) X
* Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate) O

Best animated feature film of the year Oscars 2010 nominees:
*“Coraline” (Focus Features) Henry Selick
*“Fantastic Mr. Fox” (20th Century Fox) Wes Anderson
*“The Princess and the Frog” (Walt Disney) John Musker and Ron Clements
*“The Secret of Kells” (GKIDS) Tomm Moore
*“Up” (Walt Disney) Pete Docter X O

Best Director Oscars 2010 Nominees:
*“Avatar” (20th Century Fox) James Cameron O
*“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) Kathryn Bigelow X
*“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) Quentin Tarantino
*“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate) Lee Daniels
*“Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) Jason Reitman

Best motion picture of the year Oscars 2010 Nominees:
*“Avatar” (20th Century Fox) A Lightstorm Entertainment Production James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers O
*“The Blind Side” (Warner Bros.) An Alcon Entertainment Production Nominees to be determined
*“District 9″ (Sony Pictures Releasing) A Block/Hanson Production Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
*“An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics) A Finola Dwyer/Wildgaze Films Production Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
*“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment) A Voltage Pictures Production Nominees to be determined X
*“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company) A Weinstein Company/Universal Pictures/A Band Apart/Zehnte Babelsberg Production Lawrence Bender, Producer
*“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate) A Lee Daniels Entertainment/Smokewood Entertainment Production Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
*“A Serious Man” (Focus Features) A Working Title Films Production Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
*“Up” (Walt Disney)A Pixar Production Jonas Rivera, Producer
*“Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) A Montecito Picture Co