Jill Scott's great new album, "The Light of the Sun", is out June 21st. If you have any doubts, stream the whole thing now at NPR.

Scott has come a long way since she was working as The Roots' hook girl. (Can you imagine a time when Scott rode the bus on the Things Fall Apart tour just to come out and sing the chorus she'd written for Erykah Badu to sing in "You Got Me"? And people were kind of bummed when she hit the stage -- until they heard her sing, of course?) Scott began in Philadelphia as a spoken-word artist, and on The Light of the Sun, she incorporates that work into her songs cleverly. When she finds an opening to leaven her singing with speech, she goes for it, but within reason and to an end.

This summer Jill will take the show on the road. "Jill Scott's Summer Block Party" will hit amphitheaters in multiple cities including Wantagh, NY aka Jones Beach on July 28th. Tickets for the NY show, and other shows, are on sale now.

The shows will be hosted by Doug E. Fresh with opening sets by Anthony Hamilton and Mint Condition. DJ Jazzy Jeff will work the turntables. All dates below...

Continue reading "Jill Scott releasing "The Light of the Sun" (stream it), bringing a 'block party' on tour (dates)"

Prince & Janelle Monae @ Madison Square Garden - 12/29/10 (pic by Jake Rocks Off)

Like he did on 12/18, Prince played Madison Square Garden on 12/29, but this time with help from Mint Condition, Janelle Monae and special guest Cyndi Lauper (though not Sheila E again despite an announcement by MSG that she would be there). Full setlist, a video and a few more pictures below...

Continue reading "Prince played MSG again - Cyndi Lauper joined him, as did Janelle Monae (12/29 setlist)"

As previously mentioned, Cassandra Wilson announced she would be playing with Prince on 12/15 only, and it was unclear if Janelle Monae would actually be at more than one show. She won't...

Prince has announced his guests for the first four dates of his highly anticipated "Welcome 2 America" performances. Joining him for his first performance on December 15th at the Izod Center will be jazz bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding and R&B artist Lalah Hathaway. Also at Izod, Prince will be joined by Grammy winning jazz performer Cassandra Wilson and funk saxophonist Maceo Parker on December 17th. For the first performance at Madison Square Garden on December 18th, comedian Sinbad and famed bassist Larry Graham and his band Graham Central Station. That night only, Sheila E will join Prince on stage. On December 29th at MSG, fans will be treated to Twin City legends Mint Condition and recent double-Grammy nominee Janelle Monae.

Due to overwhelming demand, Prince recently announced an additional date at Madison Square Garden on January 18th, the guests for this show have yet to be announced.

Tickets are still available to the two NJ shows and the January MSG show. The list of dates with openers, and some videos, below...

Continue reading "Prince MSG & Izod Center show opener & special guest info (Sheila E @ MSG included)"

Janelle Monae @ Terminal 5 (more by Matthew Eisman)

With the dates announced for Prince's Welcome 2 America Tour, one of the touring acts, Janelle Monáe, spoke to MTV News about hitting the road with the legendary musician. To sum it up, she's pretty stoked to tour with someone as iconic as Prince.

"Well, I'm excited. We're great friends," Monáe told MTV News on Monday at the Glamour Women of the Year event in New York City. "I'm honored that he had chosen me to be a part of the tour."

Monáe may be somewhat of a rookie compared to Prince, but long before stardom came her way, touring with him was on her to-do list.

"It's definitely one of the things that I wanted to do in my career, is tour with him," she shared. "And it just means a lot that he's a mentor to me and he loves the stuff that we're doing and he's going to help out every way he can to make the show phenomenal."

So, will fans see some collaborations between Monáe and Prince? "We may [collaborate], we may," she teased, adding that she doesn't have a favorite Prince song. "And when that happens, I'll be sure to let you guys know." [MTV News]

Though not much is really known about these shows, Prince did promise the following list of openers/collaborators when he first announced: Maceo Parker, Janelle Monae, Mint Condition, Esperanza Spalding, Cassandra Wilson, Lalah Hathaway and Sheila E. Cassandra Wilson released a statement that was slightly more specific than Janelle. She said that she, herself, Cassandra, "will be joining Prince on stage at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, NJ on December 17th." Maybe Janelle will be at all the shows, or only one too? Prince did say the shows would be different each night.

Tickets for the recently added Prince show at MSG go on sale at noon.

And in slightly related news, being picked to play with Prince isn't the only thing Lalah Hathaway and Janelle Monàe have in common. They're both also, like Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, on the For Colored Girls soundtrack.

Janelle and Esperanza Spalding also have at least one prior connection. They, along with Patti Labelle and Alicia Keys, paid tribute to Prince on the 2010 BET Awards. Video of that and the full For Colored Girls soundtrack tracklisting below...

Continue reading "Janelle Monae paid tribute to Prince & happy to be playing with him (MSG tickets on sale)"

Prince on stage @ the Apollo, October 14, 2010 (Stephen Hill)

Today, Prince headed to Harlem to the iconic Apollo Theater to announce he would be serving as Master of Ceremonies for a new concert series called 'Welcome To America,' which will be kicking off this December.

Though he was mum on details like dates and tour stops, the 52 year-old singer/songwriter told the crowd that 'Welcome to America' will showcase some of his favorite artists including Maceo Parker, Janelle Monae, Mint Condition, Esperanza Spalding, Cassandra Wilson, Lalah Hathaway and Sheila E.

The Minnesota native also confirmed that he and the New Power Generation would also perform nightly alongside featured acts.

"If you've been to one of my shows, then you know what time it is," the usually media shy artist joked. "You need to come early and come often because every time we play it's always something new. I got a lot of hits. Bring friends, bring children, and bring foot spray because it's gonna be funky."

"I didn't want to talk too much but how many have seen 'Waiting for Superman,' " he asked before bringing out Harlem Children's Zone head Geoffrey Canada who also spoke briefly about how grateful he is Prince chose Harlem as the venue to announce the series.

Prince will play a special guitar for the duration of the concert series and then auction off the guitar for the benefit of Harlem Children's Zone. [Prince.org]

I don't know if "concert series" means he'll play one venue multiple times, or if this is just a regular tour with openers. Details are sparse, but I'm excited either way. Stay tuned for more as it's announced.