New York Musical Experience

One of my favorite memories of traveling was the time when I went to New York a few years ago. Maybe it was my favorite because I barely get to travel, but it was a great experience. Many people have already visited New York and know of its fantastic wonders, so when I went to New York, I got to see for myself. I went to the Manhattan part of New York where I visited the museum, tried Indian and Thai food, and saw a broad way show. I even got to see the amazing Times Square at night time, which of course is the best time to see everything all lit up. With all of these things I've experienced, I really enjoyed the broad way show known as "Hair Spray," which included a number of songs such as a musical. Before seeing the show, I did not know anything about "Hair Spray", but after watching it, I loved it. The musical songs and the story line were so thrilling and exciting to see. I even recognized a well-known artist known as Tevin Campbell (who was one of the cast members), and I really liked some of his songs. His most known songs are "Can We Talk" and "I'm Ready," and also his songs on the cartoon movie-A Goofy Movie called "Eye to Eye" and "Stand Out" are great songs as well. He has a unique voice that is different from others, which allows him to stand out and be himself.

All the while, my family and I even had the pleasure of meeting the cast after the show. And I'm certainly glad that we got to take pictures with the cast because it’s a proven memory. Being in New York, I got to see many things that I normally couldn't down here. I got to see New York’s daily traffic jam, so we walked to every place we visited. And the places in New York are really close together so the walking distances wasn’t that bad. However, we did get to ride in the taxi before and the driver drove really fast. Even though it was pretty dangerous, it was kind of fun. In closing, my New York experience was great and I will always remember it.

Finding New Music

Hello everyone, only a couple more blogs left to post. This week’s blog is going to contain some ideas on the different ways we recognize new music and the ways we show that we like them. So here it goes.

Music is always a cool past time because there is a constant flow of more and more music being composed. There is always new music coming out with rising new artists showing off their skills and new albums being produced. I believe we will always enjoy old music, but we also welcome new music with open arms due to the fact of its impact on us fans. More specifically, if music is great and we like it, then we give artists their props by requesting their songs on the radio, buying their albums, or voting for their songs on television (so that the songs can be on the countdown of music shows). Music has an influence on us and we show it by doing such things as buying CD's just so we can hear our favorite tunes whenever we want. But how exactly do we find out about these new songs that our favorite artists has made? Well for me, the music shows such as BET and CMT gives me the 411 on new songs that I love. The radio is another great source to explore brand new music. And my friends and family are also a big help in introducing great new songs to me. Some new songs that I really like are "What's My Name?" by Rihanna featuring Drake and "No Bullsh**t" by Chris Brown.

Many times it seems as though new songs are first discovered according to a certain area. For example, my family (who live in a different area) always seemed to know a new song I would tell them about before I did, and I couldn't figure out how. It was as though their stations were more up-to-date on music status than my town. Anyway, new music is cool to listen to, and music artists are really talented and clever because they continue to come up with so many new topics and beats, it’s like music will never stop. This is good for us because it means that we will always have new songs to jam to.

Ringtones!

Hello everyone. This time I decided to blog about Ring tones. Ever get tired of those beeping noses your phone makes when its receiving something? Or the video game tones your new phone comes with? Yea, it's pretty annoying to hear those little sounds every time you receive a text message, phone call, voice mail and so on. Well I'm sure you already know I love music, so when I found out that there are actual songs to replace those beeping noises I was really excited. Ring tones help us distinguish between the different features of a phone such as a phone call, text message, voice mail, unknown caller etc. Ring tones also let us know who is calling before we look at the name or number. You can hear all of your favorite songs play instead of those beeping noises the phone originally comes with, which I think is awesome. Generally, people think about the lyrics and match the person with a certain song that describes the person or their feelings toward that person like....

Many times people set a particular song to a specific person such as setting a love song to a boyfriend or girlfriend. Songs such as "If This Isn't Love" by Jennifer Hudson can definitely be used for a person whom one feels strongly about or love. However songs like "Kiss Me Through the Phone" by Soulja Boy featuring Sammie, may be used for a new relationship that have just begun because the song does not express a love type relationship (of course there are many more songs/ring tones to match with a different relationship type or situation). On the other hand, there are others who just choose songs simply because they like it. No matter which person it is, people may just set their favorite songs to the person that they communicate with the most just so that they can hear the songs often. Which are you?

Now I can say that I fit in both categories because I think about the different songs and their meanings and I try to match the songs with how I feel about the person. And then there is the fact that I also like a lot of love songs that doesn't necessarily match my feelings about the person, but I want to hear the song often so I set it anyway. Maybe you select your ring tones with a different approach in mind.
I Love Ring Tones!

Music Videos

Hello, this blog is going to discuss music videos. More specifically, I want to highlight the sensibility, cleverness, and overall appearance of music videos. Have you ever heard the song before you saw the music video and visualized how the video might look? Well I have done that plenty of times, and some songs have definitely tricked me. I think it would be one way when it actually ended up being completely different. However, the videos that come out exactly how I pictured it makes me feel satisfied because I feel as though I understood the song. In a way I think videos are necessary to visually show the meaning of a song, and sometimes its a teaching method for a new dance. Some examples of these different types of videos are................ 

Songs such as: "Walk it Out" by UNK, "You're A Jerk" by New Boyz, and  "Crank That (Soulja Boy)," these songs include a dance that teaches the audience how to do them. Each dance earned huge props from its fans and some fans even uploaded videos on YouTube attempting to do the dance. Many times, proms and clubs play the song and people perform the appropriate dance to the correct song. Because of the popularity of the dances, I believe those videos are pretty clever and successful. Since I usually focus on R&B and Hip hop music, I wanted to switch it up and blend country music into the mix. The songs "You Belong With Me" and "Love Story" by Taylor Swift both turned out to be exactly how I anticipated because the video actually included things that the lyrics were about. On the other hand, music videos such as Jazmine Sullivan's song "Bust Your Windows," did not meet my expectations at all. I expected to see Sullivan destroy and vandalize a car, and instead she vandalized the house. I was pretty upset that she did not destroy the car because that is what the song was about. Another video that I thought of is Drake's song called "Best I Ever Had," I loved the song, but the video did not make any sense to me. His lyrics were about a girl that he loves and that she is the best he ever had, while the music video contained girls playing basketball, which I didn't understand. To me, the music video did not match the song and that kind of made me question the meaning of the song (however I still believe the song is about a girl he loves).

  However a music video turned out to be, maybe the artists wanted to be creative and do something unexpected. Either way, the artists are making money so the fact of the music videos sensibility doesn't affect their pay check.

Male Singers Sing in High-Pitch

So there I was listening to music when I realized the style of singing of male artists' songs. I mean I noticed the tone of voice some men singers use in songs. There are high-pitch, low-pitch, and some who utilize their normal voice. However, the focus this week rests on the popularity of males' soft high-pitch voice, which fans adore. So think about it, who does sing like that?

Well some well known artists that comes to my mind are Robin Thicke, Lloyd, and Maxwell. You maybe familiar with Robin's songs "Lost Without You," "Sweetest Love," and "It's in the Morning," all of which reveal Thicke's style of singing and proves to be an effective likable method. You can tell that Thicke's style is praised by fans because his songs reached the top of the R&B charts. Lloyd also produces fan favorite songs with his soft singing style. Songs that  exemplify Lloyd's style include "Lay it Down" and "You" featuring Lil Wayne. And no one can forget Maxwell's unforgettable songs: "This Woman's Work" (from the movie Love and Basketball) and "Pretty Wings." Maxwell is well known for his style of singing and fans love it. These men success in their style are favorable to fans and have made the soft high-pitch singing popular and cool. They paved the way for a different way to sing. It's hype from the fans have prompted other artists to adopt the style as well, which resulted as a success for the artists whom utilized the style. One artist whom used a soft high-pitch singing approach is Marques Houston. His song "Naked" is fully sung in the likable style and earned him great recognition from fans. Now if you compare the song "Naked" to Marques' other song "Circles," the difference is pretty clear especially in the verse section.

I agree with the fans liking the soft high-pitch singing because it sounds really nice, especially when the artist knows how to do it correctly (as the men I wrote about in the above paragraph do). It is like a gentle harmony mostly used in the context of love, sex, or about that significant other and quite frankly it fits well with those subjects. The softness of the artists' voices helps the fans and listeners feel the passion of the song. If those same songs were song in a different way such as in a firm or aggressive way then the fans would not receive the same effect. Any other way of singing would definitely lose some of the passion that the songs originally contain.

Collaborations

Music's versatility have given artists a different pattern to work with. Artists' talent with the help of producers have made many great songs using the different patterns. Over the past weeks, I have blogged about a popular remix and the memories that music can help us recall. Well this week I want to discuss collaborations between two or more artists and its success among fans.

Everyone has their favorite music artists that they love to listen to. Some people might have all of their favorite artists' CD's, posters or know every detail of the artists' background information or life. Either way, the idea of making collaborations have proven to be very likable to music lovers because it includes different styles that goes well together. The styles usually include one person rapping and another person singing. Some collaborations that I love to listen to are Chris Brown's song "Deuces" featuring Tyga and Kevin McCall, Twista's song "Make A Movie" featuring Chris Brown, Drake's song "Miss Me" featuring Lil Wayne, and so much more. I love collaborations because it brings a different technique to music, such as adding something else to a song. More specifically, collaborations changes the song from being just a rap song or just singing and turns it into a blend of both. The artists whom are great at rapping raps their verses and the great singers sing the choruses, usually. I believe that the creation of collaborations was bound to be a success because many times it include the two artists that we love or two artists put together turned out to be good. Like many things in life, collaborations cannot always turn out good, sometimes the two people that created a song together did not produce a good mix or their lyrics were off (I can't think of any bad examples at the moment). However, more than often, producers are great at their job and  result in creating a great collaboration by putting the right artists together.

The various things that can be done with music still amazes me. Maybe in the future, someone will come up with other different things to do with music where it might be a success as well. Whatever it is, I can't wait!

Antoine Dodson- Hilarious Music Remix

Music artists have become so talented, particularly referring to the idea of remixes. Consider the case of a real actual incident that involved a man attempting to rape a women. During the man's attempt, things were broken and shattered which led to the woman's brother suspicion of checking on his sister and trying to fight off the man. The end result was that the man got away. After the commotion, the news team performed their usual task of broadcasting the victim and her brother, where the brother revealed a message to the man who attempted to rape his sister. The amazing thing about this interview was that the brother's message was transformed into a popular remix that is both entertaining and hilarious. Much props to the man who made this remix. Many people have viewed this so if you didn't know about it, here is your chance to watch it. You can watch it by following this link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEvNS5TzvwM&feature=related

Yep, the brother of the victim name is Antoine Dodson and this remix became so popular that Dodson and the men who created the remix performed it at the BET awards. That is an amazing accomplishment because Dodson was just a regular person and after this song he became a star. The BET awards is a definite honor and privilege to perform for all of the famous celebrities so I know that that just had to be one of the greatest feelings ever. Going back to the topic of the song, I think that that is pure talent to make a remix off of a serious incident. I mean, the guys who created it really only used the words that was spoken in the case of a rape attempt. And with that, a verse and a chorus was created, that is talent. The beats and rhythms all fit right together and Antoine's attitude made the video just really funny from the words he was saying to the expressions he made. But yes, a rape attempt is a serious and awful crime that I'm sure no one wants to experience, but since the victim's brother can laugh about the song then I don't think its that bad to laugh too.

And the plus side about it is that the victim managed to avoid getting raped and because of her scary encounter, her brother became a star and can make money from his songs. He appeared on BET 106& Park and performed there also and announced that he is working on another song about the man who attempted the rape. The man escaped so I'm sure Antoine is probably going to talk about that subject in his song.

Music and Memories

Every week we think about what to write on our blog topic and this week is no different. As I thought about different things related to music, my mind led me to music’s ability to remind me of my loved ones that have passed away. In the past, one of my relatives (my cousin) wrote songs that she sang herself. Most of her songs were about relationships and dealing with them. However, one of her songs was dedicated to my grandma, whom I've only gotten to know during my early childhood, so my memory of her is pretty vague. While listening to the song, I reminisced about my time with my grandma and I fell in love with the song. It described the unconditional love my grandma had for her family and how we would never forget her. I love this song because I do not want to forget about the few memories I do have of my grandma; also the fact that the lyrics and the melody are gentle and smooth, contributes to my love of the song.

I have also had other experiences of music and the remembrance of loved ones that have passed away, one that affected me differently. In this particular experience, the song that reminded me of this loved one already existed. The song was very popular during its release and is known as "Please Don't Go" by Tank, an R&B singer. My loved one was a friend of the family and he had the song playing on his MySpace profile, you could tell he loved the song. He also use to sang it a lot. I also loved the song, but after his passing, I couldn't really enjoy the song anymore. Even though it occurred a while ago, till this day that song reminds me of my friend.

Many times music expresses the emotions you feel, which is what these particular songs did for me in sparking my memory of my loved ones. Even in a sad scenario, music makes it a positive outcome because it creates more memories that one can remember along with other memories. So all-in-all, I appreciate all of the things that music brings and that is why I love it.

Don't Let Their Age Fool You: Children Found Music 2

Hello everyone, this blog will include two young artists, a singer and a rapper, rising in the music industry. I posted a website so that you can view their songs (you might have to copy and paste the link to view it). Hope you enjoy it.

In the past, adults almost always ruled the music industry, later the talent of teenagers were discovered and then child artists emerged. In society today, it seems as though children are starting to pick up their musical abilities or any talent a lot faster than before. It almost seem as if child singers and performers developed their talent from hereditary factors, as if from birth they were destined to be apart of the music business just as their relatives were. Will Smith, known as a great actor and artist, is an example of spreading his talent to his children. His daughter, Willow Smith, is a ten year old singer who developed a voice to be heard. Willow's mother, Jada Pinkett Smith, is also a well known celebrity as an actress. Given Willow's background, she was bound to have a great talent in something and one happened to be singing. Of course those hereditary factors does not apply to all the children who become singers because some of them are the starters in their family. Take for instance, Lil-P-Nut, his father simply made up a little rap scheme to help Lil P-Nut understand how to do his homework. This was where Lil P-Nut found his happiness, rapping. His father later recognized his talent at the age of four and supported Lil P-Nut with his dream ever since.

Its amazing to have young talent, be discovered, and live one's dream. But with all great things, there will be some opponents whom will not support child artists' fame; opponents may argue that children do not understand music. However, recent child artists such as Lil P-Nut, has proven his unbelievers wrong by establishing his own album. In the case of Lil P-Nut, children have the ability to write lyrics as well as performing and rapping at the age of seven.
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Children minds' are powerful and hopeful, which gives them the confidence and the courage to go after their dream. They are ready to pursue their dream and ready to perform. Here they are.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2dXAXNnUvM&feature=related (Lil-P-Nut)
Here is a link to view the video of Lil P-Nut's song called "You Might Be The One", the seven year old rapper who writes his own lyrics.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bor9nD1gxQ4 (Willow Smith)
Here is a link to view ten year old Willow Smith's (Will and Jada Smith's daughter) song called "Whip My Hair." Following in her father's footsteps, she exemplifies talent as a young singer.


Although these children are young, their voices sound more mature than they're age.

Drake Concert!

Music is awesome especially when you get to let loose and just sing-a-long to the songs of your favorite artist's album at their concert. I have been to a couple of concerts in my life and I have discovered that just because it's a concert, it does not mean that it will be all fun and dandy. To really have fun and enjoy the music at a concert, you have to love the music your listening to and love the artist that's performing. Just this past week on September 24, 2010 on Friday night, Drake (my favorite rapper) had a concert at USF Sun dome, it was so much fun, I'm sure everyone had a blast. Unfortunately....... that's what I was told by my friends who did go see it because I didn't. As bad as it feels to miss the opportunity to see Drake perform in action, I was at least happy to hear that it was as great as I imagined because I know now that all of that money it takes to get a ticket, would have been worth it.

That brings me to my reason of why I wasn't able to make it; I didn't get my ticket in time because I was waiting for my cousin to purchase a ticket first.  Although, I wanted to go more than ever, I didn't want to see it without her.

Moreover, I know being at Drake's concert would have been the best one I have ever been to because I actually know all of his songs, including the verses; unlike other concerts where I try to sing-a-long by making up my own words. The interesting fact about my love for Drake's music is that he is a rapper, and I never really liked rap much until Drake came along. I guess it was because most of the rappers I heard didn't have lyrics that I could relate to, understand, or agree with. But Drake changed the game for me with his talent of singing and the words in his songs were really catchy. Also, the phrases in his music are so amazing that I couldn't help but to learn every one of them. I find it really neat that everyone in my family loves Drake, which is great because when we play his album, everyone is singing-along and happy and not yelling for someone to turn the music off.

Why I Love Music

Music is a great past time for me, it is soothing, fun, and a stress reliever. It helps me through my most stressful situations because it gives me a break from all my worries and lets me focus more on the melodies. The countless assignments, personal problems, and finances rambles through my mind constantly, causing me to become frustrated and aggravated. Fortunately, music was made because otherwise I would have to resort to sleeping all of the time.  I also chose music because of the fact that there is a variety of genres that everyone can relate to in some way, no one is left out. Moreover, it allows people to express themselves through dancing or by singing along, all of which creates a fun and enjoyable surrounding. Music is so versatile that it is played in movies, shows, commercials, and more. It is all around us. My favorite types of music to listen to is R&B, Pop, Hip Hop, gospel, and a little rap, but I listen to a little country and rock as well. I love to listen to my mp3 player every day when I'm alone studying, on a road trip, or heading to class. One of my favorite artists is Drake because I like how he sings and rap. His newest album: “Thank Me Now” has many songs that I love to listen to because of the lyrics, the rhythm and the way he performs it.

Music can represent the way I’m feeling whether it be sad, happy, angry, or in love, which is makes it so easy to relate to. I love when music talk about exactly what I am going through because it helps me not to feel alone. I discovered that it plays a major role in solving my problems because of the effect it has on me. For example, when I’m in a situation where I am upset about something, I can listen to all the various songs that sing or rap about being happy, which will in turn help me to be happy. Music also inspires me to achieve heights of success when I see where some of the artists have started from before their career. They talk about their struggles and what they had to do to get to where they are now and admire their determination; it makes me believe I can be as successful as they are.