May 1st, 2013 | 10:25 am by Bené Viera

The Complete List Of Songs From Love And Hip Hop Atlanta Season One

song-singles

During the most dramatic or emotional scenes of Love and Hip Hop Atlanta there’s a song that serves as the soundtrack specific to that situation. Joseline‘s pregnancy test debacle was matched with Trey Songz‘s “Heart Attack.” Mimi drove over Stevie J‘s boxed clothes to Labyrinth’s “Earthquake.” Not only are the songs perfect for what’s going on in each scene, the featured tracks have also put viewers on to artists they may not have been familiar with. We can’t count the number of “Love and Hip Hop Atlanta brought me here” comments on the YouTube videos of the songs featured. For your listening pleasure we’ve compiled a list of all the songs featured in season one of LHHATL right here in one place. Thank us later. Read more…

January 3rd, 2013 | 11:45 am by Bené Viera

Trey Songz Surprises A Fan At Home And She Wants To Know: ‘How Big Is It?’

If your favorite singer surprised you at home with a camera crew in tow would your apartment be tidy? Would you have on a full face of makeup, including faux eyelashes? Wanda was read, but in complete shock when  Trey Songz  knocked on her door. And all the questions she’d previously told Arlington’s K104 DJ she’d ask if she ever got the chance were delayed due to tears and speechlessness.

A K104 listener thought she was being gifted with free tickets to Trey’s concert, a limo ride and a $1,000 Macy’s shopping spree. Her joy was uncontrollable when Trey showed up minutes after the radio station’s camera crew. The tears flowed. And the words never left her tongue. Trey wiped her tears, hugging her while her head rest in his chest. It really is the cutest thing you’ll see all day. “Let me grab my Hennessy,” she said before heading to the couch with her favorite artist. Read more…

December 31st, 2012 | 10:15 am by Lacey Seidman (@Lacezilla)

2012′s Most Memorable One-Liners In Music

Whether it arrives via an artist’s song lyrics, ad-libs or in the form of a routine sound while performing on stage, your favorite rappers and singers are constantly dropping consumable anecdotes for the masses. If they’re lucky, these catchphrases are repeated and mimicked often enough to eventually be added to the popular-culture lexicon, used as amusing mantras for us all to drop in text messages and into tweets as #hashtags. Some might even make it into the dictionary.

This year, especially, delivered a treasure trove of jack-able artist quotes, and while you might wish that most of these never make it into 2013, we present you with a nostalgic look at this year in music verbiage: 2012′s Most Memorable One-Liners.

1. “YOLO”
We’ve seen the tattoos and we’ve heard the stories of it tragically back-firing, so there’s certainly no denying that Drake’s (or Rick Ross’?) You Only Live Once motto wasn’t one of the biggest this year.

2. “(Pop A) Molly”
We can all rattle off a list of rappers who (over)used this designer drug reference in 2012, but here’s hoping that Meek, Kanye, French, Trinidad James, Ross and others can find a new addiction to flaunt come January 1.

3. “Oh God”
Like a cheerleader for himself, Detroit’s G.O.O.D Music member Big Sean knows how to announce himself before spitting a verse. Alternate spellings include gawd and gaud.

Read more…

November 28th, 2012 | 10:00 am by Lacey Seidman (@Lacezilla)

Bad Timing: Why Meek Mill’s Debut Dreams & Nightmares Got Unfairly Shafted

It’s often said that timing is everything, and Meek Mill’s debut album couldn’t have arrived in a more luckless moment. The eve of his Dreams & Nightmares release brought him eclipsing circumstances in the form of Superstorm Sandy hitting the East Coast, and while folks in the Northeast were battening down the hatches and preparing for the worst, the Philly spitter promoted his album on Twitter heavily, all while sheltering a house full of relatives from the storm.

A number of @-replies and retweets attacking the rapper for being insensitive to the tropical cyclone reality at hand spilled into my Twitter timeline, and I myself, stuck in the house and concerned for friends and family, admittedly thought that maybe the active promotion was in poor taste. And I’m a fan. But can we blame him? Meek Mill had been waiting to release his first full-length album since he was 16-years-old and, conflicted by an influx of somber reports on flooded communities and power-loss, wasn’t about to allow the building odds to thwart his momentum. Read more…

November 26th, 2012 | 12:00 pm by Lindsey Weber (@lindseyweber)

From Last Night’s Soul Train Awards All You Need Are Miguel And Elle Varner

You might not have caught The Soul Train Awards on Centric last night. In a flurry of Sunday night programming (plus Liz & Dick Lifetime!) it would’ve been easy to skip the award show dedicated to awarding the best in hip-hop and R&B. If you did choose another route, here’s your tl;dw (That’s “too long, didn’t watch.”) rundown: Cedric the Entertainer hosted, Anthony Hamilton did “Lovely Day”, Leah LaBelle did Teena Marie’s “Square Biz”, Fantasia paid tribute to Aretha with “Don’t Play That Song For Me”. There was a New Edition tribute (in which Bobby Brown failed to thank his departed former wife Whitney Houston?), Keyshia Cole performed “Enough of No Love” from her new album Woman to Woman, and X-Factor winner Marcus Canty did Luther Vandross‘ “Never Too Much”. On the hip-hop side, 2 Chainz was there. Naturally.

Perhaps in the strangest moment, Tyrese‘s “Stay” won Song Of The Year, despite being released independently from his album, Open Invitation. It beat out John Legend, Trey Songz, Estelle, Wale, AND Usher–making it a true underdog. Tyrese most likely knew this, stating in his acceptance speech that today’s R&B is ”insecure, since everyone is doing house and techno music” (a weird nod to Usher, perhaps?) But tonight, he continued, “Real R&B is winning”.

And now for the best performances…

October 8th, 2012 | 1:27 pm by Bené Viera

“Dive In” To Trey Songz’s Steamy Love Triangle

Trey Songz is the equivalent of the side chick, the other man if you will. Sort of like when Biggie said, “Don’t leave your girl ’round me, true player for real,” Trey is about that life. The visual for “Dive In” is all kinds of sexy with a clean cut Trigga in a cream suit jacket and a beautiful curly-haired woman who is cheating on her handsome man. Yummy. The concept from Justin Francis clip is not one that’s extremely innovative. A pool. A hot couple. Said couple can’t keep their hands off of each other in the water. We’ve seen this more than a few times over. Read more…

October 5th, 2012 | 2:23 pm by Bené Viera

Miguel’s Kaleidoscope Dream Puts The Soul Back In R&B, Despite His Feeling That The Genre Has Become A ‘Caricature Of Itself’

Kaleidoscope Dream is the magical sophomore album by Miguel, an LP in which he infuses the sounds of rock, soul and funk into the expanding box that is modern R&B. On “Adorn,” which is currently No. 1 on the Hip-Hop/R&B charts, he croons about love and intimacy over the funky bass line. “‘Adorn’ is romantic, but it’s dirty at the same time,” he told us the day his album dropped. “It’s all the highs of love with all the coolness of the party.” Then there’s “Use Me,” “Do You,” “Arch & Point,” and “Pussy Is Mine” that explore the beauty of intimacy. While “Do You” is as much about the sensuality (“Do you like hugs? Do you like love?”) as it is about sex (“I wanna do you like drugs tonight”), the provocative “Pussy Is Mine” is completely about Miguel’s friend with benefits making him feel like it is all his. Read more…

September 13th, 2012 | 7:26 pm by Lacey Seidman (@Lacezilla)

When Cuffing Season Gets Sticky: Crushing On Someone Who’s Already Taken

If you thought yesterday’s Doin’ It Well playlist geared toward freaks was a tad scandalous, today’s Cuffin Season topic might really send your moral compasses whirling. In matters of the heart, we sometimes can’t control where our affections land, amiright? And in some instances, brewing feelings for someone who’s already in a relationship can be an unexpected reality that hits your bubble of awareness after it’s too late.

What’s the code of ethics to abide by when your heart and loins are telling you one thing, and your mind’s screaming the opposite? I’m no moral arbiter, but I do know one thing: whether the apple of your eye has been happily taken for years or is in the midst of a rocky separation from their significant other, wanting to scoop up someone who’s already cuffed is never an easy set of circumstances to end up in. The situations vary for everyone, too! Maybe your crush has no idea that you’re silently swooning in their presence, or maybe they’re aware of your feelings and have been stringing you along for months, dangling a I’ll-be-single-soon carrot in front of your face. Perhaps they’re recently single, but are still moping and fawning over their ex. Maybe they sincerely care for you and see a future together, but have been stuck in a repetitive break-up-to-make-up cycle that, from your vantage point, seems unlikely to end soon. Any of this drama sounding familiar, or am I just projecting?

Read more…