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Amanda Diva Needs Your Help

 

Life as an independent artist is challenging enough without life kicking in and serving you up a healthy dose of reality. Sadly, Amanda Diva got a taste of real life when her purse got stolen last night, and that's after getting into a car accident last weekend. (Damn, yo.) Diva posted a blog this morning detailing the ordeal and everything that she lost:

Hey folks. This is really not my week. I got in a car accident last weekend and last night my purse was stolen with my ipod, phones, camera, wallet, ticket to the Roots & Erykah Badu, basically my life. Contrary to popular belief, I am FAR from rich. But I need those things to continue to forward movement of my business. The phones for obvious reasons, the camera is how I shoot a lot of DivaSpeak TV and if you're a music lover, ESPECIALLY if you're an artist,a you completely understand how difficult it is to live without an ipod. So, if you were thinking bout buyin "Life Experience" off my Myspace page, or a hand-painted bag, or mixtape, or print hopefully the spirit will move you today to purchase an item from DivaWorks to bring some goodness to you and also help me get back in the swing of things. Hope this finds everybody well.

As anyone who has ever had their purse/bag/backpack/luggage stolen can attest, this seriously blows. I speak from experience and can truly feel her pain. I just saw Amanda over the weekend in Philly where she held it down as emcee for the Black Lily Film & Music Festival awards ceremony/concert and blessed the audience with a few songs. Her performance (video after the bounce) was so impressive that I went ahead and bought her Life Experience CD after the show. In the event that it's not yet a part of your collection, now would be the time to add it. Diva is also a visual artist with some stunning original artwork for sale on her MySpace page just in time for Mother's Day. So get some Amanda Diva in your life and hook a sista up at the same time.

Even a "Supa-Woman" needs a little help sometimes.

Amanda Diva [Official][MySpace][Blogspot][YouTube]

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Butta  |  05/09/2008 at 4:30 PM  |  Comments (4)  |  Permalink

Name Your Own Price Music Coming Soon

 

ill Mami  |  05/07/2008 at 4:00 PM  |  Leave a Comment  |  Permalink

Teddy Riley + B2K = 'You Got Served 2: Sucks to Be You'

 

Since Chauncey Black has decided to sweat it out with Flipmode, Teddy Riley, in a manner, is hooking up with post-Omarion, scandal-ridden B2K. Not musically, thank God, but for a new film entitled Hype Nation, in which Teddy will play a music director. According to Singer's Room, the flick follows "dance battles between R&B group B2K and South Korean dance crew The Gambler." Raise your hand if this was the Teddy Riley update you've been waiting for! Hell, anything can happen these days, and I don't begrudge any of this. Who's to say these people don't deserve a check? I'm trying to be optimistic, but for some reason I'm really tickled by this. Also, the film will be released by Paramount in 2009, which means theatrical release. Make it work, people! [SR]

nOvaMatic  |  05/06/2008 at 3:30 PM  |  Leave a Comment  |  Permalink

Jennifer Hudson to Be Mentored by Mutual Enemies for New Album

 

The good news is that things are going full speed ahead with Jennifer Hudson's album. The potentially messy news is that she's chosen her mentors from two different sides of the spectrum.

It's always been fun to imagine that Alicia Keys and India.Arie got into bloody brawls backstage at every music awards show where the latter lost to the former, over and over again. Chalk it all up to schadenfreude. But in the absence of any tangible beef, we have to hand it to J-Hud for reaching out to two of the most respected artists in music to guide her for this project. Hudson expressed worry to Keys that her album is taking too long to manifest. We couldn't agree more, because the girl has chops. As for Arie, Hudson went to her for the "hit," a track titled "Greatest Creation." Am I the only one that thinks it should've been the other way around? You go to Alicia Keys for the track radio won't get enough of, and ask India.Arie for advice on how to maintain a respectable amount of industry tolerance. Maybe that's just me.

In the meantime, we can hold ourselves over with her offering to the Sex and The City soundtrack, courtesy of Concrete Loop. Hudson's untitled album will be released in September. Hopefully.

Jennifer Hudson: "All Dressed Up In Love"


Hudson Calls on Dreamgirls Keys and Arie for Album Help [PR-I]

nOvaMatic  |  05/06/2008 at 2:40 PM  |  Comments (4)  |  Permalink

New Raphael Saadiq To Bring Back The Good Old Days

 

It's no secret that Raphael Saadiq is a creative genius. Since parting ways with Tony! Toni! Toné! (and later Lucy Pearl) he has stayed on his grind and touched projects by an array of artists such as Floetry, Lionel Richie, Musiq Soulchild, Kelis, Joss Stone, and Teedra Moses. In addition, he's also managed to keep some fantastic solo material for himself, although we haven't heard anything new from him since the 2004 disc Ray Ray. That will thankfully soon change with the upcoming release of his as-yet-untitled new album on Columbia Records. Whereas his last CD was a throwback to '70s funk, this new project will turn the clock back even further with nothing but '60s classic soul. If anyone can pull an entire album of Motown-inspired music off it's Raphael Saadiq. Now this sounds like it's going to be instant vintage. 

Butta  |  05/02/2008 at 3:26 PM  |  Comments (4)  |  Permalink

Jill Scott's Third Single Chosen

 

Jill Scott's fans have spoken in a vote held on her website, and "Whenever You're Around" has been chosen as the third single from The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3. After the overwhelming response in favor of this track over "Wanna Be Loved," "The Real Thing," and "How It Make You Feel," Hidden Beach decided to go with the will of the people and release this jazzy number about a relationship that has run its course. Wow, a record company that listens to an artist's fans? Imagine that.

As of right now, there are no plans for a video to be shot, but in this day and age visuals are so important for a single's longevity and it would be nice to see Jill get her sexy on in a vid for this song. Hopefully Hidden Beach changes their mind and decides to kick a few coins toward a video. Maybe the people need to speak up once again? Send them a little encouragement here. 

Jill Scott: "Whenever You're Around"

Butta  |  05/02/2008 at 1:10 PM  |  Comments (6)  |  Permalink

Jazz Appreciation Month

 

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ill Mami  |  04/30/2008 at 1:30 PM  |  Leave a Comment  |  Permalink

Chauncey Black + Flipmode = Blackstreet 3.0

 

ill Mami  |  04/29/2008 at 1:20 PM  |  Comments (2)  |  Permalink

Slow Down, Alicia!

 

As if the warm milk-inspired vibe of As I Am wasn't enough, Alicia Keys is already pondering the course of her next project. She tells Billboard she wants to do something even more "soft" than what she's given us thus far. "When I was just finishing recording As I Am, I said to myself that I want to do something that's totally stripped-down, stripped-back, totally piano-based, singer-songwriter; [a] Joni Mitchell, Carole King type of vibe." No "Karma". No "Teenage Love Affair". No "Girlfriend". Just Keys and her trusty piano. Way cheaper than an Ambien prescription, though. [BB]

nOvaMatic  |  04/29/2008 at 11:44 AM  |  Comments (4)  |  Permalink

Seems Cee-Lo Has the 'Write' Touch These Days

 

In the face of mixed reviews of the latest Gnarls Barkley project, the mightly Cee-Lo is still apparently riding high these days, recently penning tracks for both Jennifer Hudson and Solange Knowles.

The track written for Hudson, "All Dressed Up In Love," will appear on the soundtrack for the highly-anticipated Sex in the City movie, while his contributions to Solange's sophomore release, SoL-AngeL and the Hadley Street Dreams, are the songs "T.O.N.Y." and "Sandcastle Disco."

Knowles said she "literally had to beg Cee-Lo to listen to my music" before he agreed to come aboard. And while there's no word on whether he'll appear on any of the tracks, I'm sure we'll all agree that his presence on any of them would likely take them up a notch.  Stay tuned.

Hudson Records Song for Sex in the City Soundtrack [IOL]
Solange Prepares to Drop New CD [Earth]

Harlem  |  04/22/2008 at 1:35 PM  |  Comments (2)  |  Permalink