WENN.com

It seems that Drake has been listening to his fans and his critics: enough of the emotional whining in the songs.

Drake dropped “Started From The Bottom” on Friday night with a note to the masses:

My good friends,

“…This is the first single off of my upcoming album. I feel sometimes that people don’t have enough information about my beginnings and therefore they make up a life story for me that isn’t consistent with actual events. My family and my second family (consisting of the best friends anybody could ever have) all struggled and worked extremely hard to make all this happen. I did not buy my way into this spot and it was the furthest thing from easy to achieve. I am proud of every part of my past and I’m excited for this song to find a place in your life as well. I didn’t feel I needed any interviews or radio or press to launch this song. It felt right to come back to the site that I started on and release it to the people that started here with me. Judging by this post, the tour that we’ve been planning, the conversations about new songs and album artwork…I think it’s safe to say we’re back together again. Looking forward to seeing you all soon.”

The single, while not totally void of a little singing from Drizzy, is free of him being overly emotional on a track. It was produced by Zombie and talks about how he and his team have worked from the bottom to get where they are today.  Now, I don’t really know how far at the bottom one would consider Degrassi but alright Drake, rock on.

He celebrates the team’s arrival and takeover by saying:

“…There ain’t really much out here that’s poppin’ without us/we just want the credits where its due/I’ma worry bout me give a Fawk about you/Just as a reminder to myself, I wear every single chain even when I’m in the house/Cuz we started from the bottom now we here…”

While he didn’t give any other information about the album other than they’re working on artwork, it is safe to say we’ll be hearing more soon.

Check out the song below (it is not safe for you to blast this at work or around the kiddies…he’s a rapper, folks – lots of cursing).

WENN

How many of us know of a celebrity that we would love to have blocked from our news stream? From the overexposed to the folks who just make your skin crawl for their behavior, I’m sure you can think of one. Well, Canadian media company AUX immediately thought of Chris Brown and has created a plug-in called the “Brownout” that allegedly makes it so that anything that has to do with Chris Brown is blocked from your browser. I don’t know how successful this will be, as all that happens is a huge bar pops up and covers his name in headlines and in search engines, and does the same for pictures of the brotha too. However, since the block is so obnoxious, it seems that it would draw more attention to his stories than it probably would have without the app. Either way, developers for AUX, including Sam Sutherland, an online producer for AUX, seem happy with their work, because they’re tired of talking about Chris Brown, and don’t find him apologetic enough (Because he needed to apologize to them too, right?):

“It is nearly impossible to go on the internet without reading something about him, he is always doing something outrageously moronic. If he wants to get a tattoo on his neck that kinda looks like Rihanna we are going to write about it. But at some point, it reaches Chris Brown idiocy saturation.”

Well, alright. AUX did something like this in the past for the Canadian rock band Nickelback, who they felt were always being talked about in the news for some random reason. “In the case of both artists, they are wildly popular and their fans love them. But for us and people who work for AUX and our audience, we were getting tired of these artists. In November, you couldn’t go on the internet without reading something about Nickelback.”

It all started with Nickelback, and now they’re blocking Breezy, so who knows who will be next. But I think downloading an application like this is pretty extreme. When you see something or someone you don’t like, you can definitely choose to ignore them and the news rather than blocking them out like they don’t exist. But hey, just as it’s a free country to talk for days about all things and antics Chris Brown, you’re more than free to download the Brownout and rid your browser of all his tattoo-getting, hair color-changing, dance-happy, Karrueche-kissing but Rihanna-loving antics. I on the other hand, shall stay tuned…

Here’s what the plug-in would look like:

Source: aux.tv

What do you think about this plug-in idea? Who would you like to have blocked from your Internet browser for good?

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With the exception of a few popular words like “Eh” and a small accent (very small most of the time), Canadian-born folks are pretty much just like Americans. We have a similar culture and similar interests (aside from providing great healthcare…). Many move from the country to the US to achieve massive success in the arts and in other facets, and when they come, they blend in pretty perfectly. That’s why it’s always surprising to find out that certain people are actually from Canada. We know the usual suspects: Drake, Melanie Fiona, Justin Bieber…but this list is for folks (some a bit random) that we had no clue about. And if you did already…*pulls out a cookie*

Check it.

Source: ca.launch.yahoo.com

Deborah Cox

*Clears throat*

How. Did. Youuuuuuuuuu get here!? Sorry, I had to do it. Maybe I was born under a rock and everyone and their mothers knew about this, but I truly didn’t know Deborah Cox was a Canadian-born sista. But she is! Born in Toronto by Afro-Guyanese parents, she was raised in Scarborough, Toronto and while trying to make a name for herself out there, she had the chance to be a background vocalist for Celine Dion. But it wasn’t until the early ’90s that she left for LA. Cox is often talked about as Canada’s biggest R&B artist thanks to her massive hit, “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here.” Oooooh they played that song to death.

First of all, can I say I love the yellow pumps she’s rocking? In fact, the whole outfit is pretty cute, even the cheerleader ponytail is on point too. But anyway, Melanie Fiona, one of our favorite people, hit up Jimmy Kimmel’s sound stage to serenade a stiff crowd and her fans with “4 AM” LOVE, love that song (is your lover creeping with a dancer? Let’s hope not), and the performance is pretty awesome as well. This girl’s voice does not waver and is undeniably strong. I’m really going to need people to stop sleeping! Be sure to pick up her new album, The MF Life on March 20, but in the mean time, tell us what you think about Ms. Fiona and the track after you check out the video below:

As for our girl Estelle, she showed up looking pretty gorgeous in a floor length white gown and her fabulous dark red hair to sing her track, “Thank You.” This song is not bad to me, but live, Estelle seemed to sing it in a timid way and at times she did more yelling than singing. Not sure why, but I’ve heard her do better. Either way though, can’t deny she looks great! Check her out on Letterman’s stage and tell us your thoughts on the song and performance. And don’t forget to pick up her new album All of Me, which just was released:

Love these jams?

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I bet you thought you were just entertaining yourself bopping around to the lyrics of Drake’s newest song or Kanye and Jay Z’s Watch the Throne album. Nope. You were actually learning a new language called African American English. That’s cray right?

Researchers at the University of Alberta with nothing better to do asked 166 non-African-Americans from the the University of Minnesota the meanings of 64 expressions used in “black youth culture.” Results from the survey showed a positive association between the number of hip-hop artists listened to and African American English comprehension vocabulary scores. Yes, they actually named it.

So what covert wordsmithing did the researchers uncover? The use of “road dog” to mean friend (what year is?), “guap” as referring to a lot of money (2007?), and “dollar cab” as an underground railroad (isn’t that the black town car that charges me $7 to go up the block in NYC?) What takes the cake is that the study is actually titled, “You Know What It Is: Learning Words through Listening to Hip-Hop.”

I thought the whole ebonics discussion went out the window years ago, so the fact that someone actually took the time to study this fictitious thing known as African American English is baffling to me. Is it just me or does this whole study make African Americans sound like a foreign species? While I want to chalk this all up to one of those “white people being impressed with average things black people do” moments like “Oh my God how does he come up with those lyrics,” something feels just a bit more Divisive about this. Oops, I mean, these researchers are on one. Newsflash: African Americans are Americans and we speak English like everyone else.

What do you think about this study and the whole idea of African American English?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Is being a drug addict better than contracting HIV or hepatitis? If you ask Canadian health officials that answer might be yes. A trial project launched in Vancouver’s crime-ridden downtown eastside has begun administering heat-resistant and shatterproof glass crack pipes to addicts in an effort to prevent them from becoming infected with such diseases.

As part of the $60,000 trial, users are also given mouthpieces, filters, alcohol swabs, screens, and push sticks. Between 70 and 90 drug kits are reportedly given out each day and while this isn’t Canada’s first time addressing this issue with a harm reduction approach such as this, it is the first time officials have given addicts all of their tools in one pouch.

A spokeswoman for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority seemed genuinely proud of her organization’s efforts at disease prevention in an article with the National Post but David Brener, director of the Drug Prevention Network of Canada, said “Programs like this ignore the problems of addiction.”

“All this does is aid and abet. What we should do is put that same amount of money into treatment and prevention. Because treatment and prevention work.”

I’m inclined to agree with Brener. The health authority’s approach may work as a temporary band-aid to prevent disease contraction in the short term, but unless they plan to follow this up with drug and disease treatment campaigns, I’d say this effort is ill-focused.

What do you think about this harm reduction tactic? Is it better than nothing or encouraging crack addiction?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Madame Noire sat down with this chocolatey, Canadian actor to discuss his career, his breakout role in “Red Riding Hood” his singleness, and what it was like kissing Halle Berry in “Frankie and Alice”. Check the video below.

If the pressures of your real life are getting the best of you, it’s time for an escape. Don’t think about your vacation as running away from your responsibilities; but rather making your mental health a priority. If you think you’d like to indulge in such a treat, consider your budget, but also consider your own wishes. Whether you can leave today or you’ll have to save for a year first, check out these relaxing vacation spots that will make you think about changing your permanent address.

Oftentimes, you don’t know what to expect when meeting a celebrity in person. Since I’ve been hearing so much about Melanie Fiona, for a good year now I had some ideas of what to expect. The Canadian songstress was definitely going to be at least 5’8″ since she seems to tower over her audiences on stage. Her voice would shake the walls of any room, since her amazing vibrato puts power into any tune. And of course, she’d have a bit of an entourage. What else would you expect from a diva in the making?

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