Source: Warner Bros

If you’re like me, if you’ve been seduced by all the decadence The Great Gatsby promises to deliver. Plus, I love Leonardo Dicaprio as an actor; so needless to say, Gatsby is on my short-list of films to see this summer. This was true before I heard that Jay-Z was producing the entire soundtrack or that Beyoncé and Andre 3000 would collaborate again to cover Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black.” Learning all of the aforementioned information just sweetened the pie.

If you’re curious about Jay-Z is going to do with the soundtrack, you can listen to it, in its entirety over at NPR.

I’ve been listening to it for the past 25 minutes or so and it’s quite interesting. The fusion of the old and new is seamless and I think it’ll work well for the film. Right now, my favorite song so far is “Over The Love” by Florence + The Machine. If you’re not familiar with her work, please know that that woman’s voice is otherworldly.

Check out the soundtrack here and let us know what you think. What’s your favorite track? What do you make of the body of work as a whole?

WENN.com

It’s another Bey & 3 Stacks collabo!

We’ve been hearing about this remake for quite some time now, with Amy’s fans and family members not being overly thrilled with the news.  Amy and Beyonce are totally different artists in terms of style so there was really no clue what the final outcome would be with this one.

Well last night on eastvillageradio.com (or EVR), DJ Mark Ronson dropped the song on his show. As the co-writer of the song, he was the chosen guy to air it out for the masses.  The song actually starts off with Andre singing the first verse in a voice that sounds much like the singing voice he had in Idlewild.  Beyonce comes in on the second verse in a very “breathy” tone, giving us nothing but silky and sultry.

The version is actually quite different from the original version.  First, there’s a hip-hop beat on the new version that wasn’t really present on Amy’s version.  Second, when you hear Amy sing the song, there’s a certain power and “pain” in it that you won’t really find on the remake.

“Back to Black” will be featured in the upcoming film Gatsby in which Jay-Z is scoring the original music on the soundtrack.

Before you listen, I have to warn you that EVR has their drops all over the song, but they’re placed strategically and you can still heard all the vocals. Check it out!

Source: AP Images

I am a huge Amy Winehouse fan. I don’t care about her complexion or her personal demons, that girl could sang!

So when I first heard (like last week) reports that Beyonce would be remaking Winehouse’s ”Back to Black,” for the Great Gatsby as a tribute to the late UK blue-eyed soul singer, I was not impressed with the idea. In fact, I’m pretty sure I sucked my teeth and rolled my eyes. Beyonce is always trying it – it being my last nerve. You know, it hasn’t even been two years since her passing, do we already need a remake? Personally, I feel that there should at least be a five year moratorium on song covers so that we can prevent people like Beyonce and Jay-Z from reaching through the Poltergeist and snatching wigs from afterlife. And that’s why people think they are the Illuminati.

But I got to admit that the little pieces I heard are alright. But just alright. Like how the Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Pink and Mya cover of Lady Marmalade by the LaBelle is just alright. Sort of a campy GLEE-worthy version of the original but yet catchy and entertaining. Plus I’m kind of intrigued by dark, emo-Beyonce and anything with an Andre 3000 on it, is an instant win. Hopefully they got that clearance issue straight so we don’t have a repeat performance of Party.

Anyway, there is an art to making a good cover (not a popular cover. Glee-covers are popular but necessarily because they are good). I narrowed the key elements to a good cover, down to three:

 1- Respect for the original: Would you want to hear Mindless Behavior cover Luther Vandross “A House is Not a Home”? Nobody does – not even their mommas. And it has nothing to do with the group being different musically or having little sappy, bubbly-gum pop voices – although some folks could make reasonable arguments that those two reasons are blasphemy enough. But I always felt that what made a good song was a singer’s ability to make you believe the words that they sing. A good cover should maintain that same level of emotional credibility. And I don’t think that four teenagers still working their ways through puberty have lived enough life to understand the grown folks business Vandross sings about, to be believable. Ultimately it would end up sounding like one of those God-awful Kidz Bop songs.

2-Yet Be Original: A great cover song should be a good song in its own right. Meaning that a cover song can completely switch genres, play with the musical arrangement, even the gender of who sings it and it stand alone as their own song. Whitney Houston is a great example of a singer, who took previously-worn song and made them her own. Just a few to note: Dolly Parton’s ”I Will Always Love You;” “Saving All My Love for You“ by Marilyn McCoo and Linda Clifford’s “All the Man that I Need” (yup, that was a remake too). Of course you could argue that Houston was just a powerhouse singer and would always wreck any song she was on. But it’s pointless covering a song if you can’t bring anything new to the table – even if it is just a powerhouse voice. That brings me to my last point…

3- Aim to be equally yolked and/or better than the original: Listen most purists will say that nothing can compare to the original version. In most cases, there is some truth to that. However, it is not always true. I can point out many examples of the remake that was better than the original. For instance, New Edition classic, “Mr. Telephone Man,” is actually a cover of a really painfully off-key version done by Jr. Tucker. Michael Jackson’s Butterflies is another example of a cover that I like more than the original – but only slightly because Floetry killed it. But even if a singer can’t make it his own, he/she/them should at least be able to match the same level of intensity as the original. Case in point: many people have been booed off stages attempting Jennifer Holiday’s “And I am Telling You.” But like King Arthur and the Excalibur sword, only Jennifer Hudson has been able to sang that song to the vocal levels it calls for – which makes this performance of both Jennifers trying to out-riff and run each other, so entertaining.

I guess we will have to wait until King Bey releases the full track to find out where it stand in terms of remakes. So far, I can say honestly that I think I would like this same Beyonce/Andre 3000 version but with two other voices on it, like Bilal and Chrisette Michele. But that’s just me. Hopefully they won’t mess it up. You never know, we get the full release of the song and it has bells, lasers and Autotune all over it. On a side note: Amy Winehouse’s version of Valerie is far superior than the original.

Source: WENN

Since the release of Beyoncé and Andre 3000′s rendition of the late Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” track for The Great Gatsby remake, many have criticized the duo for the track asking, “What were they thinking?” and exclaiming how much better Amy’s original version was. Amy’s Dad, Mitch Winehouse had a few things to say about the track as well.

“I don’t think she brings anything to it,” Mitch told Daily Mail of Bey’s version of his deceased daughter’s song.

Mitch also says that at first, Bey and her camp never formally asked for permission to record the song.

“I wasn’t asked for my permission if they could record it.”

He went on to say that he has since agreed to allow them to use it, but it’s going to cost them.

“They have got to pay for the privilege, which is what they are doing. I can’t tell you how much it is but it’s a lot of money.”

Some perceived his response as perfectly warranted, while others felt it to be a bit shady. Mitch took to his Twitter page a couple of days ago to insist that there was no shade intended and that he welcomes Bey to cover more of Amy’s songs, as many of the proceeds go to charity.

In case you were wondering, the Amy Winehouse Resilience Program was set up by the Amy Winehouse Foundation. The overall goal of the foundation is to prevent drug and alcohol abuse among young people. The Resilience Program specifically promotes drug and alcohol education in schools. Mitch’s description of the program found on the organization’s website reads:

“Far too many young people and their families are affected by substance misuse, including alcohol and ‘legal highs’. We want to change that. One of the key needs we have identified is for an effective educational and support service for young people and their families, working within schools. In partnership with Addaction we have developed a programme which works with students, parents and teachers to make them better able to communicate with each other and make informed choices.”

It seems like a very admirable cause. It’s great to know that the money is going to a good place.

What are your thoughts on this?

Source: Tumblr.com

The internets are buzzing this morning. Earlier this month we told you that Jay-Z would be producing the soundtrack for the new “Great Gatsby” film. So it was no surprise that his wife, Beyonce, would be featured on the project. She’s working with Andre 3000 on a remake of the late Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black.” If you’re an Amy fan you know this is one of her more well known songs. It’s dark. It’s soulful. Expectations were high.

When a snippet of the song was released, folks let their frustration be known. They called the remake terrible, asked WTF both Beyonce and Andre were thinking, etc. Personally, I wasn’t that upset over it. It didn’t move me but it certainly wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever heard either. I pretty much shrugged after I heard it. So take a listen and tell us what you think of this collaboration.

So what gives, are people missing the genius because they’re comparing it to the original or is this snippet really that bad?

Source: Buzzfeed

Sorry to excite you — or incite more conspiracy theories that 2Pac might really be alive — but isn’t this visual pretty spot on? Last week Buzzfeed created a gallery showing what dead music artists of our age would look like had they stayed on earth just a little while longer, and they captured some of the most iconic stars of our kind from every genre, like Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, Aaliyah, and, of course, Pac.

Though I’m sure Pac probably wouldn’t have gone from a supremely shaven bald head in his younger years to trying to hold on to this slowly receding hairline later in life, the caption Buzzfeed provided, “Director Tupac Shakur and his wife Jada Pinkett Shakur arrive at the after-party for the premiere of Shakur’s lastest film in New York City,” is probably just about right. Sorry Will!

Check out the photos and Buzzfeed’s prophesies for what these starlets would be doing now had they not passed away so soon. What do you think?

Source: Buzzfeed

Aaliyah, 34

Singer, actress, and designer Aaliyah joins this season’s cast of American Idol as a judge.

Credit: WENN

From The Grio

Beyoncé is going to do a Great job covering an Amy Winehouse hit.

E! News can exclusively reveal that the “Single Ladies” hitmaker has teamed up with Andre 3000 for a duet of the late singer’s “Back to Black” for the soundtrack of the upcoming remake of The Great Gatsby.

Read more at TheGrio.com.

It’s the last MN Morning Jam of the year folks! So it’s fitting that we go out with a bang (and some wine, which we will drink much later in the evening), and some Nas, who is coincidentally playing a New Year’s Eve show tonight in NYC at Radio Music City Hall. The extra fine rapper teamed up with the late and great Amy Winehouse for this groove-worthy track about his search for the right lady. And the good news is, he doesn’t sound too picky in his search for a boo (“She could be from out the hood or either work for the president”). The song is off of his album, Life is Good, which was one of the best albums of the year, and it’s definitely worth a two-step at your desk.

No matter what you’ve been through this year, we’ve made it to a new year (in a few hours) with new opportunities. Let’s be thankful, and remember as Nas would say, that yes, life is good! Happy early new year loves!

Source: idolmag.co.uk

When it comes to posthumous albums, for recently deceased and iconic deceased artists, the release of one can bring in big dollars for their estate and more fans to their musical catalog. Over the years, some artists have had their unreleased tracks flipped and released posthumously, with good and bad results. With the news that Drake is hoping to produce a posthumous album for the late Aaliyah (his imaginary girlfriend), the release of the first single, “Enough Said,” and the recent news that Missy and Timbaland will contribute to the project, we’re wondering if the upcoming album will be a huge hit, or a hot mess of a miss. We’re also thinking about past posthumous projects and the marks they’ve made, or the missteps made in releasing them to the world. Shall we discuss? Let’s take a look at a few…

Source: headphonemonsta.com

Notorious BIG – Life After Death  (Loved)

To be clear up front, posthumous refers to a work published after someone’s death. Though BIG worked on this double album himself and it was actually supposed to be released on Halloween of ’96, it was released two weeks after his death in ’97. Not only was it a commercial success (diamond status) and considered one of the best selling hip-hop albums of all time, it was also a huge success with critics and fans alike. There was a little bit of something for everybody, including the mainstream cats (“Hypnotize”), the ladies (“F*** You Tonight”), the hardcore fans (“Notorious Thugs” and “What’s Beef?”), and…Diddy, of course (“Mo Money Mo Problems”).

When it comes to good music, it doesn’t matter what the artist looks like. Check out this list of blue eyed singers with soul, or at least a catchy beat at Hello Beautiful.com.

What’s your favorite song from this playlist?

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