Caw-Caw Music

Archive for the ‘Artist’ Category

Although their styles were very different, early to mid-twentieth century composers George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, and Leonard Bernstein created the music that, for listeners both in the United States and around the world, came to be identified as an “American sound,” characterized by generous lyricism and emotional directness. Barber, who was born in 1910, and whose centenary was recognized on his birthday, March 9, stands out because he was the only one of the four not to prominently incorporate jazz or other popular American idioms into his style. He was the most introspective of the group, and while his music is often at its most effective when it reflects that quality, he had a broad expressive range, and his music could be whimsically humorous, passionate, or starkly powerful. He had a terrific gift for melody, and much of his music is notable for a sweeping lyricism and Romantic warmth. Even at its gentlest and most modest, Barber’s music has a quiet strength that is evidence of the high level of inspiration, clear vision, and sheer musical skill that mark him as one the 20th century American composers whose work is most likely to endure.

NEW YORK – After saying goodbye on concert stages and online video streams, Lil Wayne had nothing to add as he was sentenced Monday to a year in jail for having a loaded gun on his tour bus.

The Grammy Award-winning rapper delivered only a brief bow to fans and supporters as he was led out of a courtroom in handcuffs to start serving his sentence.

With that, Lil Wayne headed off to face his punishment in a case that had shadowed him as he became one of music’s most prolific and profitable figures in recent years. Arrested in July 2007, he pleaded guilty in October to attempted criminal possession of a weapon. He admitted he had the loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic gun on his bus.

Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper and businessman. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having had a net worth of over USD$500 million in 2009, He has sold 40 million albums worldwide while receiving ten Grammy Awards for his musical work.. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest MC’s of all-time.

Jay-Z co-owns The 40/40 Club, is part-owner of the NBA’s New Jersey Nets and is also the creator of the clothing line Rocawear. He is the former CEO of Def Jam Recordings, one of the three founders of Roc-A-Fella Records and recently, the founder of his new venture Roc Nation. As an artist he holds the record for most number one albums by a solo artist on the Billboard 200. Jay-Z also has had 4 number ones on the Billboard Hot 100, one as lead artist. (“Heartbreaker” with Mariah Carey, “Crazy in Love” with Beyonce, “Umbrella” with Rihanna and “Empire State of Mind” featuring Alicia Keys.)

Along with his financial and musical success, Jay-Z is known for quarrelling with other artists in the rap industry, the most famous feud being between him and fellow New York rapper Nas, which was eventually settled in 2005. He married American R&B star Beyoncé Knowles on April 4, 2008. On December 11th, 2009 Jay Z was ranked as the 10th best overall artist of 2000-2009 decade by Billboard Magazine. (Ranking as the 5th top solo male artist and as the 4th top rapper behind Eminem, Nelly, and 50 Cent)

The Black Eyed Peas is a Grammy Award winning hip hop group that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1995. The group is composed of vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Will.I.Am and vocalists Apl.De.Ap, Taboo, and Fergie. Since their album Elephunk in 2003, the group’s hip hop/dance-oriented style has sold an estimated 25 million albums worldwide and 31 million singles. They scored their first worldwide hit with “Where Is the Love?” in 2003, which topped over ten charts worldwide. Another single was the European hit “Shut Up”. Their next album Monkey Business was another worldwide hit, certified 3x Platinum in the U.S., spawning two hit singles “My Humps”and “Don’t Phunk With My Heart”.

In 2009, the group became one of only eleven artists to have ever held the number one and two spots on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time with their singles “Boom Boom Pow” and “I Gotta Feeling”, from the album The E.N.D., and the singles also topped the chart for an unprecedented 26 consecutive weeks combined in 2009. The album later produced a third Hot 100 number one with “Imma Be”, making them one of the few groups to ever place three number ones on the chart from the same album. The album also includes singles such as “Meet Me Halfway” and “Rock That Body”.

Before the Black Eyed Peas, will.i.am and apl.de.ap were in a group called The Atban Klann signed to Eazy E’s Ruthless Records. The Peas were ranked 12th at the Billboard’s Decade-End Chart Artist of the Decade and 7th in Hot 100 Artists of the Decade.