Madonna will be playing gigs in New York, Paris and London to promote he new album Hard Candy.

Our sources tell us that the final dates are:
* New York: April 28th
* Paris: May 6th
* London: May 10th

DOWNLOAD: Petra Haden - Don't Stop Believing (Journey) (MP3) (info)
DOWNLOAD: Tegan & Sara on AOL's Interface (MP3) (info)
DOWNLOAD: Josh Rouse on AOL's Interface (MP3) (info)
DOWNLOAD: Spoon on AOL's Interface (MP3) (info)
DOWNLOAD: Art Brut on AOL's Interface (MP3) (info)

Justin Timberlake & Timbaland @ MSG, NYC - Aug 16, 2007 (CRED)

* Foo Fighters covered Arcade Fire
* Jaymay was featured on Perez Hilton
* WFUV creating a new streaming radio station
* Man punched for singing Coldplay song
* The Muggabears are playing Galapagos
* The National, The Forms & Takka Takka play for free @ South Street Seaport
* Sleepytime Gorilla Museum & Made out of Babies are @ Highline Ballroom
* John Vanderslice is playing a record store and a private show
* Pioneering Jazz Drummer Max Roach Dies at 83
* Amy Winehouse Cancels V Fest date, Lilly Allen Postpones Tour
* NPR was video taping the Hold Steady @ Prospect Park
* Tickets are on sale for GZA performing Liquid Swords in Brooklyn

It's raining. What else?

Tickets are still on sale for Lil' Wayne @ Beacon Theatre on July 22nd.

pharoahe monch + styles p @ Highline Ballroom, NYC - June 29, 2007 (CRED)

styles showed up at the p. monch show to collab for "the life". pharoahe is on some street soul tip for this current tour with a live band. i'm feeling it, desire is my joint right now. [thisismecl]

• Even though we already know this isn't true, everyone is jumping on this story of Timbaland allegedly retiring, it's really just based on some off the cuff boasting remarks.
• A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip is hard at work on his upcoming The Renaissance album. Stream "WorkItOut" (real, mov, asx).
• In case anyone got the wrong impressions Cassidy lets us know that his upcoming album 'B.A.R.S.' (Sept. 18th) album is 'not church music'.
• One of my favorite rappers of 2006, Obie Trice is interviewed on XXL and speaks on his new work, the state of Hip Hop (who doesn't nowadays), and more. Interesting read.
• Prefix gives us a bunch of photos and videos of the Pharaohe Monch show at Highline last week.
• Master P's new clean lyrics album Gutta Music Allstars, and an exclusive track called 'Let the Kids Grow' is going up on AmieStreet tomorrow. Master P says,

  As you may have heard, Romeo and I are taking a stand against the negativity in hip-hop because we all need to be responsible for our actions and the communities we represent. Similarly, Amie Street is out there making a positive impact on the future of online music by making it available to people in a new way and I like what they've got going on.

  More about that here.
• Public Enemy's Chuck D signs on with Tunecore for his digital distribution.
• The legendary breakdancing Rock Steady Crew is celebrating their 30th (!!!) anniversary with events from July 23rd-29th in Manhattan, the Bronx and a free concert at Lincoln Park in Newark.

Continue reading "Wes' Weekly Hip Hop News Roundup (July 5, 2007)"

"Jrak" writes in...

M.I.A.'s first album bombed in sales given all the hype, and I think this one will do even worse, and HERE'S WHY. I was fairly psyched to watch the Boyz video on BV today, but about 1/4 through I was insanely bored with it and had to stop watching. M.I.A.'s first album was so great because it was so weird for the time, but now mainstream R&B has gotten so weird in its production itself (your Timbalands, etc) that M.I.A. doesn't have that angle anymore of sounding unique and like nothing else. She's just another rapper/singer, and SURPRISE, her voice isn't good. Without being distracted by all the fancy and crazy blips and bloops, you realize she's just not much else. More proof of mainsteam R&B being the new hipster music, and teenage girls being way ahead of anything Ed Banger is gonna throw at you. Wouldn't you rather listen to pretty much anything by Rihanna than the new MIA? Just my two cents.

DOWNLOAD: Clipse - Ain´t cha (MP3)

As I was saying, David Bruno (dance), Undisputed Wes (hip hop), and I (other) interviewed Björk (via email).

No introduction needed. After thanking her and all that, we asked
(questions in bold).......

---

Björk, you recently reunited with the Sugarcubes and played a show in Iceland. How did that come about? Were you happy how it turned out, and most importantly - would you do it again in the U.S.? (New York preferably!)

Sorry , won´t be doing it again , i guess it was strictly for rescuing bad taste which was on the verge of bankruptcy . Don´t know if you know about that label but it has been putting out grassroot poetry and music now for 20 years . A non profit company where most of the people that work for it do so voluntarily .we put out sigurrós and múm´s first albums for example.

I love musical collaborations, and you always pick such great people to work with. This time you've especially lined up an exciting cast of characters. Truth be told, I get excited any time Antony Hegarty is involved with anything (including the new Matmos album that you both appear on). Do you remember the first time you heard Antony's voice, and/or saw him perform? How soon after did you know you wanted to work with him? Any good stories from your time together in Jamaica, and what eventually led you to include him on not just one, but two tracks on the new album?

I was in my kitchen and a friend gave me a cd for christmas of this album that hadn´t come out yet . It wasn´t until later when i had gotten to know him a little we thought of working together . I guess me and antony have mutual friends in new york so we sort of got to know each other slowly ... He came to iceland and i showed him a bit of the country side . Then we sang together on couple of occations and ended up working on couple of sketches , 2 of them ended on the album ... It´s been a gorgeous pleasure to get to know antony , he is very very special . Incredibly generous person . I feel blessed .

Continue reading "An interview with Björk"