Earlier this year, R&B crooning sensation Trey Songz did a remix of Jay-Z's "D.O.A." which, among other things, posited the idea that Trey Songz was just trying to be the best Trey Songz he could be, not some kind of R. Kelly re-tread (in case you thought he was). Trey Songzalso took some shots at R. Kelly, saying that he was too old to be using AutoTune. (The feud was basically like The Hills with more singing.)
Funny thing is, while Songz is hardly a re-tread of R. Kelly, he does share some qualities with he who was trapped in the closet, especially on two of the singles from his '09 platter, Ready.
On "LOL :)" (yes, that's WITH a smileyface emoticon) and "I Invented Sex," Songz comes with an irrefutably catchy melody ("LOL :))"and wanton sexual arrogance ("I Invented..."), respectively; two staples of the R. Kelly repertoire. Personally I like "LOL :)" (which you can jam to your heart's content here) the more because a) Soulja Boy and Gucci Mane are on it b) it's incredibly playful, as any song about texting should be and c) IT'S CALLED LOL SMILEY FACE.
Not that there's anything particularly wrong with "I Invented Sex," which you can watch in all its NSFW/ walked-in-on-someone's-sex-tape glory below, as well as an MTV News Trey Songz interview about the "concept" surrounding the video.
Directed by famed rap-vid auteur Chris Robinson (Busta Rhymes, Alicia Keys, Nas), baby-faced R&B crooner Mario's clip for "Break Up," off his album, D.N.A., starts out normally enough: a Gucci Mane guest verse comparing the emotional wreckage of a break-up to public bus schedules, some tooling around in nice whips on abandoned sets from The Wire, etc. But midway through "Break Up," things get Fosse-tastic, with a startling interpretive dance number set in a living room. From there it's the same old ur-dumped song and dance; our star holding a "Dear, Mario" letter, while his ex-girl is on to the next guy (in this case R&B singer and apparent amateur boxer Sean Garrett).
One thing's for sure: Mario's breakup is modern dance's loss. Those two had some choreographed chemistry. Watch yourself, Beyonce.
I'll be upfront: a remix of "Obsessed" had a slim chance with me; don't just mess with perfection and expect me to be cool with it, OK? I'll concede the official Mariah Carey "Obsessed" remix is pretty dern similar to the auto-tuned bliss that is its source. (If you haven't heard the remix, just expect Gucci Mane rap breaks and occasional ohs and ehs over Mariah's vocals.) Speaking of which, I'm not mad at you Gucci, but you were kind of sitting pretty on this project, huh? Or perhaps Gucci, like a good lamb, understands any major changes would be tantamount to sacrilege.
Anyway, I am interested in the remix treatment of the "Obsessed" music video; I felt the original video needed a little somthin'. Mariah and Brett Rattner (and beard-o Mariah) filmed the remix scenes during the original New York shoot; and while there is a lot of overlap, now we get sexy, writhing table Mariah (reminiscent of "Womanizer" Britney in the sauna) with Gucci Mane standing in back -- all in a perfect vision of haughtiness. Oh, Emi, er, no-one-in-particular, you can only dream what our lives are actually like. Also a plus of the new version: with more footage to work with, creepy bearded Mariah gets less airtime! Why is she so creepy?
And my favorite moment of the video? As soon as Gucci takes the reigns, Mariah goes straight for the champ-y. Oh - hi camera!
When people talk about Paul Wall, they invariably talk about his teeth. It's his own doing, of course -- not only does Paul Wall rap about grills, but he also makes and sells them. But when it came time to list the most important factors that influenced his new album, Fast Life, grills didn't even crack Paul Wall's top five.
What did? Beef jerky and baseball. The essentials.
Also notably absent from Paul Wall's list are Fast Life collaborators Travis Barker, Yung Joc, Gorilla Zoe, Too $hort and Tech N9ne. No room for Mr. Boomtown (the Dirty South's leading video director responsible for Paul Wall's "Bizzy Body" clip, as well as new joints from Mike Jones, Slim Thug, Gucci Mane and Bun B) either.
That's how important beef jerky and baseball are to Paul Wall. Don't forget it. Fill in the blanks on the rest of his list in the video below.
First of all, big up to Gucci Mane. Say aye. Second of all, it's really hard to write about the exclusive OJ Da Juiceman interview below because dude says everything so right that it's difficult to improve upon it.
His word choice is impeccable, his cadence is mind-boggling, and he never pauses. Never once stops to think. It's as if he's been programmed by scientists to be the perfect hip-hop specimen.
The Southern mixtape stylist is out hyping a new single called "Make The Trap Say Aye" and the album it came from, The Otha Side Of The Trap (buy 10 of them, he suggests). Featuring plenty of Gucci Mane cameos and production by The Game and Lil Wayne, The Otha Side Of The Trap is loaded with bangers and real clean cuts -- again, OJ's words.
Catch OJ Da Juiceman saying "Aye!" live on a 25-city tour, already underway. And get all the Juice you need below.
