#me when I put 0 effort into keeping up with which artists are touring when: 😮

[empress-palpatine]

just found out Chappell Roan has a show in Tulsa next month but it’s already sold out…please send thoughts and prayers in this trying time

[no-error]

Looking for more klance?

Remember read author tags!

Have fun reading~

                                                    Magic

Magic Me Some Love

When Shiro's arm gets cut off while he is trying to protect Keith, Keith doesn't see any way to save his life but to break into the Galra's castle and steal some of their magical medicine. But nothing goes as planned and when he exits the castle empty handed he is cursed to look like a Galra until he accepts his "halfbreed" status. He is convinced that he has condemned Shiro to death - and then he learns of a magician that might be able to help just in time.

Meanwhile Lance didn't expect a Galra to turn up at his door, demanding him to save his half dead (human?!) friend. And he certainly didn't expect to fall in love with him either.

143,711 words   AO3

Where Light and Dark Meet

(The Fallen Series not completed  1 works)

The Fallen One arises:A captive star yearning for the heavens from which it was stolen... So begins the Prophecy of the Fallen Star, which speaks of the one who will save the kingdom from Haggar’s curse. Lance, Keith, and their friends are summoned to get in touch with Allura, the deposed princess of Altea, who is widely believed to be the Fallen Star from the prophecy.But things aren't going to be quite so simple. Lance was cursed to become a cat at night; Keith spends his days as a crow. They both have a role to play in the coming battle, and they're going to have to learn to trust each other--but how can they when they only ever meet in the fleeting moments at twilight when they both are human?

34,168 words   AO3

                                               Ghosts etc

Forget Me Not           (Myosotis series not completed 23,144 works 4)

There Keith was, surrounded by all his friends, a picture of total contentment. At least, he would be, if something weren't missing.

Keith agrees to test a spell for his brother's best friend and discovers a vaguely familiar boy who no one can remember. What follows is a series of magical shenanigans that will either be tragic or entertaining as hell.

16,084 words   AO3

Over My Dead Body!

"Hey, Keith? Are you done yet?" Lance asks from behind the door. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, I'm done changing."

Out of curiosity, Keith looks over his shoulder of how Lance will enter his room. He eyes the door.

"Aaaaannnddd, you're in your boxers." Lance says.

Silence.

Sonovabish went through the door!

38,038 words   AO3

How To Date A Werewolf In 5 Simple Steps

How To Date A Werewolf In 5 Simple Steps by Keith Kogane

Step 0: Don't do it.

31,373 words   AO3

Just a Little Death          (no romance here)

AKA: The Incubus AU Where There Isn't Actually Any Smut In which Lance is half incubus, hiding it, and possibly spending most of his time low-key panicking that someone's going to find out.

At least Hunk is a good bro that's helping him keep his secret.

217,634 words AO3

                                              Soulmates

Unfamiliar Constellations

Soulmates. That was the reason his mother always told him for the random markings that would show up on his skin. It was an old legend, but not unheard of. Most people just didn’t have a soulmate.

Lance had found out about his soulmate early. They both enjoyed drawing on their skin. Whoever was on the other end of the pen was an artist, but Lance enjoyed adding his own shitty drawings to the artwork on his arm.

25,199 words   AO3

Soulmate Line

Lance moves from a small town where everyone's soulmate lines branch outwards. He never expected his matchmaking abilities to work, especially with there being 7.5 billion people in the world, but moving to university has increased the chances of success more than he anticipated. With Pidge and Hunk's help, he starts a business pairing naïve college students together if their lines connect, and by the time Shiro's cousin, Keith, comes to tour the campus, he already has a reputation.

So how can Lance explain who Keith's soulmate is when their lines connect, and yet they're total strangers to one another?

23,523 words   AO3

You're Not a Bad Soulmate

Keith puts a tentative hand to his jaw. Moron that guy might have been but weak he was not.

“Fair enough… Um…” He isn’t sure how to ask, or even if he should, but it’s very important to him that this incident be quickly forgotten so he takes a breath and goes for it.

“Please don’t tell Lance about this,” he can’t even be bothered by how sheepish he sounds.

“I mean sure but I won’t have to,” Hunk points to his own jaw. “He’s gonna find out anyway, Bro.”

22,869 words   AO3

                                                    Altean

Of Backups And Outcasts

Lance, a young prince second in line for the Altean throne, sets out to prove himself. He wants to kill an injured dragon that attacked one of their villages and escaped the knights that were sent after it. Much to his surprise, the dragon turns out to be a lot more human than anticipated - and thus begins a friendship that, despite having to be kept secret, changes his life for the better.

It's the story of how a backup and an outcast fall in love.

27,784 words   AO3

No time for caution

When you're a Galra prisoner, the question is not whether or not you will survive, but how long.

"I have a business proposition for you." Lance ignored Keith's snort.

"I want out, you want out. I can't operate any ships without having Galra genes, you can't get into any ships while trapped here. Let's help each other."

10,004 words    AO3

                                                   Heroes

So Cold It Burned

Lance is the Blue Lion, the hero of the city of Altea, and his main goal is to protect Keith - and the city, but mostly Keith - from his archenemy, Blaze.

"Come at me, cat boy, let's play with fire."

31,098 words   AO3

Behind the Mask

(Behind the Mask Series not completed 19,330 words 2 works)

Keith is one of the smartest kids at his school, but he's never really been remotely noticed by anyone. Lance, however, is one of the most popular guys at this same school. Nobody can take their eyes away from him, including Keith, who's had a crush on Lance since the day he met him.

What he doesn't know is that Lance has a crush on the city hero, Spiderman. After a chance encounter ends unexpectedly, the masked hero fears for his secrecy... and his feelings for the mysteriously adorable boy he saved.

18,547 words   AO3

                                                    Space

Blind Affection

After Lance gets injured in battle he finds himself without his eyesight, a situation he never would've expected himself to get into. Half expecting to get kicked off the team, Lance is determined to train harder and keep the fact that he's upset about his loss of eyesight from his teammates. No harm ever comes from bottling everything up, right?

25,888 words   AO3

No way out.

Alarms started to blare through the castle. "Princess! Are you alright?" Shiro rushed in.

"..Guys?" Keith looked around the room. "Where's Lance?"

26,879 words   AO3

A Kiss is a Kiss (But it's never like this)

“How does this keep happening to us, every time.” Lance grumbled.

“You’d think they’d stop sending us on away missions,” he agreed. Honestly, between the poisonous plants of their last planet, and Lance’s tendency to always end up on the business end of every blaster or pointy ended stick, Allura was just being inefficient at this point.

Or, five times Keith kissed Lance but the situation was less than ideal, and one time Lance finally kissed him back.

25,285 words   AO3

Space used to be the biggest thing, then I found your heart.

'Okay, calm down. It was just Lance. Just Lance. Lance Mcclain, the blue paladin… the sharpshooter… the loverboy. Just Lance. Nothing else. He didn’t have to be anything else.

Except for the fact that Keith Kogane was hopelessly head over heels in love with him. And Keith being the stoic, brooding, moody, emo that he was; his solution to the problem was to try and ignore Lance. Not shut him out completely because they still needed to form Voltron and all, but not go out of his way to talk to him, for fear of revealing everything.

25,780 words   AO3

i could be the one

After he is hit with a spell, Lance has visions of Keith's heart's desires and he's left incredibly confused when he finds himself appearing in all of them.

Keith shifts a little in front of Lance, protective; Lance grips his arm, tugging him back. “What do you need me to do?” Keith asks.

“Not you,” The one in blue dismisses Keith, their head turns to Lance. “We have decided to focus our efforts on the blue paladin - who wears his heart on his sleeve, and yet hides so much.”

19,857 words   AO3

in stasis

The story starts like this: with a story where you think you know the end, until it turns out you don’t, until it turns out you didn’t have a clue.

In which for three months of Lance McClain's life, he lives as an AI, waiting for his prosthetics to come online. It goes about as well as expected.

26,951 words   AO3

                                                   Modern

Accidental Love

(11:35) Hey, so I was thinking...if you hit me with a motorcycle, that means you're like, at least over sixteen.

(11:36) What the fuck?

Or Lance and Keith meet under accidental circumstances.

30,919 words   AO3

The Customer is Always (a) Right (asshole)

Keith has been working at this huge department store for three years now. He's not particularly good at it. In fact he's awful. He knows he is, and the customers seem to have no problem telling him this. He needs help.

Maybe this new guy who seems to have a natural talent for customer service will be able to give him some tips.

20,276 words   AO3

Shades of Purple

Lance McClain finds his safe haven and comfort online under the username blu97 on a messenger website called UniverseChat. There he meets a person under the username 1redrebel. Smart, charming, and having an amazing sense of humour, they pull Lance in immediately.

But what he doesn't know is that the intriguing person behind the handle is someone that he could never imagine being with in a million years; Keith Kogane. An arrogant, impulsive, hot head at his school, who he doesn't exactly like.

32,504 words   AO3

Keith's Type

“How would anyone notice what anyone else’s type is in the middle of all this?!” Matt demanded, laughing. “What’s Keith’s type?” Lance blurted out like an idiot.

“It’s… obvious,” Pidge said.

“He gets all flustered over shitty puns and most physical comedy. And have you seen the way he stares at Hunk when he’s going on about the mechanics of something? Like how the lions work? I’ve literally seen him blushing when Hunk goes into explanation mode.”

“So, you think he has a crush on Hunk?” Lance squawked.

“No. You bonehead,” Pidge laughed.

“I’m saying any dad-joke-telling, klutzoid with good grades has probably got a pretty good shot at Keith.”

24,050 words   AO3

Of booty shorts and Injuries

Keith is sure that he’s having a heart attack. Or that he hurt his brain when he fell earlier. Because it’s simply not possible that the boy who’s sitting next to him is not a hallucination. How could someone so gorgeous just sit in an emergency room at night?"Keith and Lance unexpectantly meet at the emergency room in the middle of the night.

23,862 words   AO3

The Bet

Something about the casual way Lance spoke to him, with easy grins and direct words that made Keith feel comfortable, but at the same time put him on edge.

Like he wasn’t supposed to be feeling this ok around someone, not him. Keith, who barely had friends until college, shouldn’t have someone who could coax him into such a sense of security that he found himself agreeing to do things he’d never thought he’d do.

35,847 words   AO3

at least i've got you in my head

Sleepovers always killed Keith, mostly because being in the same bed as Lance broke his heart every single time. But who was he to say no to his best friend? He'd do whatever he could to be this close to Lance.

He was hopelessly in love with a boy he could never be with. No matter how much he pined and wanted, Keith and Lance would never be together.But Keith didn't care too much, because he'd suffer a million broken hearts just to have the opportunity to be Lance's best friends for as long as the two of them were breathing.

It was painful, one of the worst pains he'd ever experienced, but he'd do it for him. Lance meant that much to him.He was just so damn in love.It broke his heart.

26,243 words   AO3

The Mark of a Lion

Lance has finally saved up enough money to get the tattoo he's been dreaming of for ages, but there is one slight problem. He has no idea where to go for it. So he decides to put his faith in his childhood and current best friend Hunk who recommends him to his neighbor, a great tattoo artist. However, Hunk failed to mention two very important details before Lance went down to the shop: a) he is extremely attractive and completely Lance's type and b) he's a total prick.

The bakery door burst open as Lance marched in with a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance marring his normally carefree face. He stomped over to the counter, glad that for once the sweet shop was relatively empty because he had a few strong words to say to the man behind the counter.

“Hunk, what the hell?! How could you let me go in blind like that? I thought that you of all people, my padawan, would know to give a guy a fucking warning!” “Lance, be quiet! And what are you talking about? Did you not like his designs or something?” Lance snorted. “His designs! No, they were gorgeous and guess what? SO, IS HE! You didn’t tell me he was hot!”

20,842 words   AO3

Mail me your Heart (you already got it)

Lance has a hopeless crush on someone who doesn't notice him and goes to his internet friend—Red—for support. Meanwhile, Keith thinks he has no chance with his online friend—Blue—because Blue likes somebody else.

Things are complicated until they’re not, and they find what they're looking for in each other.

20,657 words   AO3

Hold Me Now (Warm My Heart)

“You’re sticking me with a newbie!?” Lance squawks. “Shiro, my guy, you must be joking. A newbie is going to triple my work tonight. I’ll be running around like crazy while trying to teach some slack-jaw to count by fives. I swear, if you…”

“I’ll try not to slow you down too much.”

Keith is a loner who’s had trouble keeping a job for longer than a couple of months. Lance is an exuberant flirt who gets on his last nerve in his latest workplace….and then, not so much.

16978 words   AO3

darling just hold on

Hunk warned him from the start that something was off about this guy. Lance, of course, didn't listen. Not until he ran into the boy whose pictures he had been sent.

Or

It isn't the first time Keith has had to deal with someone using his profile pictures to catfish someone. It is the first time he falls for the catfish-ee, though.

15,862 words   AO3

[marcoshassanlevy]

El Madrileño is more a blockbuster feature than an album; C. Tangana ’s most ambitious and fully-realized work to date. The record shows a side we haven’t really seen from the Spanish artist: introspective and self-conscious, brought forth through songs that fuse old-school styles like flamenco, bossa nova, corrido, bachata, and many others, paired with fresh beats and current production values. Everything jells into a delicately composed grand vision aided by a world-class international and intergenerational cast of talent.

Although work on El Madrileño started in 2019, its origins actually stretch back to a year prior with “Un Veneno,” his 2018 collaboration with Niño de Elche, and his first exploration of what he calls “organic roots music.” When 2020’s “Nunca Esto” went to number 1 in Spain, it reaffirmed his determination to a point that he scrapped a 15 songs urbano album in order to concentrate his efforts on bringing El Madrileño to life, as he tells Remezcla on a recent Zoom call.

Traveling throughout Latin America made him realize that he had a special connection to this kind of music. “[When] I went to Dominican Republic, I remember stopping in the streets where some old people were listening to bachata,” Tangana reminiscences. “Most people think I’m all about listening to El Alfa, hookah in hand at the club, and I love to do that, but listening to bachata right there awakened something in me. And the same thing happened to me with a ton of music during that trip.”

He enlisted a veritable army of collaborators to help him realize his vision. They span generations, from young upstarts like Omar Apollo and Ed Maverick to living legends like Gypsy Kings and José Feliciano. A highlight on the album includes “CAMBIA!,” a corrido track that features contributions by Carín León and Adriel Favela. “Adriel is my friend, so I sent him the track. I told him, ‘don’t judge me and don’t tell anyone but I wrote a corrido.’ It turns out he was touring the U.S. with his band, so he pulled over to a rest stop, got all his musicians to listen to my song and they made this video of them playing the song perhaps 20 minutes after I sent him the file.”

Volume 0%

We present to you four essential contributors that make El Madrileño such an expansive work.

Alizzz (Producer)

Christian Quirante a.k.a. Alizzz is an integral part of Tangana’s incredible music. The producer has been at Tangana’s side since 2016. He describes El Madrileño as both an “epic journey” and an “experiment.”

“We call it a deconstruction; taking apart every genre and putting them back together like a puzzle.” Adventurous music made for some adventurous times. “We’ve run into trouble at every turn but we always manage to come out the other side.”

One of those challenges was expanding his role beyond his computer. He worked closely with Victor Martínez, Tangana’s live percussionist who took to task expanding the Tangana’s sound by writing part of the music on guitar and arranging live instruments. Alizzz was tasked to make sure everyone and everything helped the songs become their best versions.

“He has always been a genius,” Quirante says about Tangana. “He’s not afraid to face whatever comes his way. [El Madrileño] has a good chance of becoming a classic album in Spanish music.”

Santos Bacana (Art Direction)

Santos Bacana had a simple mission: Taking Tangana’s music to a unique visual plane. To achieve this, Tangana brought Bacana into the fold early on in the project’s creation, when he was recording demos. This led to a hurried and off-the-cuff working rhythm, a method far from Bacana’s “analytic” approach to art; in the end, he found the process “liberating.” For the directorial aspect of the job, Bacana skewed to a “discreet” vibe, framing Tangana far from the urbano aesthetics of the moment. “The music required that we show a new side of him,” says the director. “He’s coming from an emotive place, but we still wanted to keep that ‘asshole’ side that has been a part of him for a long time. We wanted to make him approachable while retaining his dark side.”

“I think one of his best characteristics is his intuition to find people to work with and boost their visions up,” Bacana says about Tangana. This crucial quality helped assemble his amazing team of collaborators.

Alex Turrión (Styling)

Alex Turrión had a very important task regarding the artistic process: he found clothes that represented a sober yet uniquely stylish wardrobe. Turrión had the fortune of constantly changing ideas with Tangana, working out small nods to visual references favored by the singer/rapper. “Since we’re close friends, It’s normal for him to send us the songs right as he’s recording them in the studio,” Turrión explains. “So really, we were already familiar with the music and it allowed us to generate ideas for the visuals.”

“It’s not like you sign up for a job and you’re there for a certain amount of days and then you’re done,” Turrión says. “It’s a constant activity and in the end, you manage to express yourself as well.”

Javier Ruíz (Cinematographer/Photographer)

The videos for each of the tracks on El Madrileño have a very distinct look achieved by Javier Ruiz, who brought to life the images that accompany the album. In the visuals, we are constantly confronted with hues of blue: each scene is framed in a cold manner with muted colors, similarly to scenes from classic Spanish cinema. This brings about an expanded feeling of what Tangana’s lyrics suggest: A more contemplative outlook.

Ruíz originally came on to the team with the video for “Nunca Estoy,” which was made remotely with Bacara directing. Working close to Tangana in a constant state of alert was like nothing else for Ruíz, as he describes it, and he expresses pride in their ability to work within a short window of time, making them bring their A-game to every step of the process. “I think that we knew how to solve everything in a very effective way. I can’t think of something I would go back and redo because it didn’t come out right. That was the modus operandi. There was no time to second guess yourself.”

[silenceofthemongooses]

hi! I hope I'm not bothering you but I can see ur attending CU. I'm planning on applying to either the school of art or engineering, but I'm leaning more towards art. I'm really at a loss when it comes to applying, home tests,and the general enviorment of the school.. and what to do after I graduate so I was just curious on what that's all like :0 sorry for making this so long .. thank u for ur time!

OMG THIS IS THE ASK I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR MY WHOLE LIFE I LOVE TALKING ABOUT COOPER

i’m putting it under a readmore bc it got crazy long??? i’m not even to the part where i yell about applications yet and it’s like ten paragraphs lmao

so. 

first things first. 

i applied to cooper in the first place because when i took the tour (best fucking college tour i took the whole time, by the way. all of the guides LOVE cooper and they love telling you about it, so if you get a chance, defo go on the tour bc theyre way more honest and you get a better feel for the school than on any other tour) one of the things that they emphasized was the student community., one told me that once when she walked into the EE lab and asked to borrow someone’s phone charger because hers had frayed so badly it wasn’t working. not only did someone give her a charger, but they fixed her charger until she could get a new one. 

and when i got here, it’s totally fucking true. cooper is a community in every definition of the word. everyone is totally willing to help you in any way that they can, because that’s the kind of people that cooper admits and then fosters that behavior. 

now. the reason they foster this behavior is because it’s a fucking hard school. the standard course load for a freshman engineer first semester is 18.5 credits, spread out over 7 classes plus a professional seminar. and yeah, some of those are only one or two credit classes, but they still have homework and class time. it is a rigorous schedule that only gets harder. professor alan wolf (physics, more on him later maybe? i have him next semester, we’ll see if the Rumors are true) said at an engineering faculty panel that he wants physics to be moved to first semester of freshman year (instead of second) because the transition from “an easy first semester” to a semester with physics and calc 2 was too difficult for a lot of students. everyone around me groaned when he said the first semester was easy. 

and this is just the engineering school! the art school is hard as hell too. keep in mind that what i know about the art program is just synthesized from talking to art students and not at all from personal experience. but. 

the first year of art is a foundation year. they assume you don’t know anything, and break you down to basics. the art ra in the dorms said her freshman year was incredibly hard for her both as an artist and as a person just because she was confronted with all these other talented people and having to face that she wasn’t The Artist in school anymore. i regularly leave the student lounge (menschel) at two in the morning only for art kids to walk in, holding all of their materials (although, not anymore, since someone got charcoal all over the tables in 3a lmao) and settling in for another all-nighter. 

cooper is a culture of intense rigor and stress, and there is no overcoming that. but it’s also a culture of community and supporting each other. it’s a really specific kind of school that some people find just isn’t for them. 

also, cooper is like, really small. like. very small. here are some of the things you will encounter because of cooper union’s limited budget and facilities, and which you basically have to accept:

no dining hall. there’s frankie’s cafe in the new academic building (also known as the engineering building, most commonly referred to as the nab) but otherwise there is absolutely no meal plan. frankie’s has like, sandwiches and muffins and bagels and (terrible) coffee, but it is in no way a full college dining hall. 

no gym. i think at one point we were allowed to use nyu’s facilities? no longer. almost everyone i know belongs to a gym. i myself visit the planet fitness on union square maaaybe once a month when i guilt myself into it. blink is a popular option. if you’re willing to spare the cash equinox is also there. crunch is the one that everyone kind of makes fun of but like it’s super close so go for it if you want. 

small supporting staff. this is both a blessing and a curse. i know everyone in the student affairs office by first name and usually they know me. i think at this point i’ve met everyone in the financial aid department. cool, because it means that they know me. bad, because it means i’ve had to talk to all of them to figure out what the hell is going on with my scholarships and how much money i actually know. this is not a school where there are online systems in place to fix any problems you have. you have to be your own advocate to the administration, and as much as they desperately want to help you, a lot of the time it comes down to just making sure your paperwork goes through. good news is you almost never have to make an appointment to talk to someone you just show up. 

very little interaction between the schools. there are three schools. art, architecture, and engineering. engineering is by far the most populated, followed by art, then architecture. if i didn’t live with two artists, i would never talk to anyone in art or architecture. yes, the hss classes are multidisciplinary, but just statistically, engineers far outweigh the artists. there weren’t even any architects in my hss1 class. if you don’t make the effort to reach out beyond your school, it straight up doesn’t happen. 

sometimes when you go to the basics plus to get some hangers because you ordered too many shirts online and now they’re just kind of shoved in your drawers and when the cashier asks if you have a student id and you pull out your cooper id she’s like “oh! is that local?” and you have to smile and say yes and when you walk out of the store you can see the foundation building down third with absolutely no problem

there’s more and i’ll think of them later but this is good for now

ANYWAYS i have a lot more thoughts on the culture of cooper??? but i think i’m going to leave it here because this is a decent overview of how i feel and what the most important parts are. 

now.

for applying.

again, i applied to and am in the engineering school. everything i know about the art school is based on talking to art students

also, i am in no way affiliated with the actual admissions department and the following is just based on my experiences as someone who applied and talking to other people who applied

also at first i thought you were applying this cycle and i was like. honey. this is not enough time for either application

BUT THEN i put an ounce more thought into it and realized not everyone younger than me is a high school senior lmao

anyways!

both applications are really intensive. to get art out of the way (sorry art) it’s a series of prompts that you have to create a piece in response to. some artists i know got crazy super stressed about it, and pulled so many all nighters, and skipped a lot of homework to do it, and overall just did not enjoy it. one of my artist roommates, however, said that she actually really enjoyed the process? she just let herself create without worrying “is this what will get me in?” and felt that it was a really great experience. 

either way, you’re going to have an interesting experience. 

for the engineering writing prompts, it’s a goddamn marathon. there were nine, i think, when i applied? i applied to eleven schools and i had to write seventeen supplements. the ratio of supplement-to-school was way off and its all cooper’s fault lmao

there isn’t a word minimum, but there is a word maximum per essay, a fact i discovered as i was copy-pasting mine into the commonapp from my googledocs file. i think the max is 500 words? not positive tho don’t quote me

anyways they’re all fairly standard questions. like, nothing out of the blue like chicago’s or whatever. but keep in mind that this is honestly where you’re going to get admitted. a lot of people apply to cooper. and a lot of those people will have the same exact stats as you (btw, sat/act scores and gpa matter slightly more for engineers than for artists and architects) and the way to distinguish yourself is through your writing. cooper admits you as a person because they believe you’ll add to their community and then to the world, not because you got a perfect score on whatever. 

so i, at least, let myself be a little freer in my cooper essays than in any other supplement. some of them i could answer right away (why cooper? why engineering?) and some of them i had to think about for a few days. the last one i wrote was the “tell us about something you read recently”. i wrote about staying up until three in the morning reading a novel and crying. i wrote it the next day because i realized that’s like, exactly who i am as a person. 

the biggest tip i have for writing these essays in general (not just for cooper) is to watch food network star or something similar. the contestants get prompted on how to hook an audience (hey, you want to do that too!) in a short amount of time (word count) and tell a story that relates to both them and their food (a story that relates to you and and why you’re going to be a bombass cooper student) like, just watch a few, and then you’ll kind of have the flow of it down, and you can figure out how to work it into your own writing

just like, really show who you are. i know it can be tempting to put on this facade, and to a certain extent you should (do not, for example, tell them about the time you got so drunk you pissed your pants) but do your best to express yourself, in either application. 

um anyways i am always down to talk about any aspect of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, so if you ever want any more info on anything, hit up my inbox!

my points of expertise include the dorms, classes, stanislav mintchev the greatest math professor in the history of the world, ray’s pizza, sitting in the engineering student council meetings and listening to all the Hot Goss, and more

i mighttttt end up putting up like “a week in my life” post at some point because i always think those are cool and maybe it would be neato

we’ll see

(if anyone want to see that…… or anything else……. lmk……..)

[illizitaffairs]

Taylor deserves better by fucking everyone

When I think about the success I’ve had, the life I have built, it all comes back to the path Taylor shaped for me. And I’m really fucking tired of holding back my thanks for her and not defending her. 

As a dean’s list post-secondary student studying media, communications and PR I am exhausted of seeing Taylor’s legacy continually beaten and worn - but more so, I am disappointed in myself for not defending her the past couple of years. 

I am fucking exhausted of seeing her work not recognized in the way it should. 

I am fucking sick of this culture of not being able to accept that a strong, young woman is better at this than people who have been in the industry for double the amount of time she’s been alive. 

And I am so, so fucking disappointed in myself for not saying this sooner.

The more educated I become in the background work involved in making Taylor the phenomenon she is, the more I understand the hardship, innovative thinking and uncelebrated strategy involved in her legacy. As a woman, I should be celebrating this. Instead of using my education and voice to defend this, I have done nothing to stop a culture of assumptions, stereotypes and uninformed opinions that clearly hurt her.  

This is my (educated) analysis of how under appreciated Taylor Swift is and how the world (including me) has done her legacy wrong. 

I write this from a class discussing how best to formulate social media cross-promotion, and the importance of shaping trends that your target market will follow versus following trends they establish for themselves. As I listen my anger and frustration is bubbling over. This is what Taylor has done since she was still on myspace. This is what she has continued to do through the cross-promo for anything she has ever released or done.

I don’t have the time to find stats to back up my points, but in summary:

1. Taylor defined cross-promo marketing. Look at what she’s done with Reputation. Millions of people are buying multiple copies of her album and merch to have a higher chance of getting access to pre-sale. Not even to buy the actual tickets! Just to improve their fucking chance at getting in. She’s making millions off of the hope her fans have of seeing her live. This is because of the decade-long career of tours that have sold out in minutes due to other equally-as-successful cross-promo campaigns. This also applies to her reposting photos of fans buying albums on release week - just the chance of getting noticed is enough to make people go out of their way to make a big scene when buying her album. 

PEOPLE. THIS IS LEGACY DEFINING STUFF. The excitement of music-buying or tour ticket purchasing may not be new, but the way the Swift team navigates it and uses social media to push it is iconic. THAT is why she is only artist to sell over 1 million copies of her album during release week. THAT is how she has set so many records. Her strategies are flawless and executed perfectly. It’s like all of what I learn in my degree done right. She deserves a standing ovation for this work. 

2. Taylor has built her career on the only reliable thing in her world: herself. Without going into an entirely separate rant, there is lots of pieces of culture that tie into Taylor’s brand whether she wants there to be or not (you know the article I could @ here). Instead of focusing on those pieces she can’t control, she has shaped her success based on her stories, her perspectives, her world. The choices she chooses to PUBLICLY voice (more on this later) only build on to her brand of self-sufficiency and self-love. This is a strategy that will sustain her for generations to come. By not getting overly controversial about anything she allows herself to only be critiqued for her choices and actions - which she clearly believes in and stands in strong in. We’ve seen that this is a double-edged sword and has opened her to the vicious, personal attacks that have nothing to do with her artistry. These attacks are childish and undermine the strategy behind her. 

This strategy allows her to build a brand that has longevity to it - so long as she stays true to herself and genuine in her work (which! she! has!) she is timeless. 

THAT is why her career is still booming after a decade with little sign or slowing down or losing momentum. THAT is why she will always find supporters. 

Her brand is hers alone to define, and she has yet to attempt to stray or change that. Reputation has proven that she understands this and will continue to own it for as long as she chooses to make music. 

3. She has gone through a media cycle that has spiralled others out of control. And she has turned out fine. The hypocrisy the media has displayed to this point is outstanding. I just love (sarcasm!) how media rips apart people who over publicize their good deeds - they call they fake-feminists and attention-grabbers, and then say the same about Taylor for choosing to keep her efforts quieter. 

It is easy to find hundreds - nay, thousands of good deeds and standings of good will that Taylor has done that she has never publicized. Hospital visits, private donations to fans and organizations both big and small, packages, house visits, school visits - THE LIST GOES ON AND ON. She does wonderful, beautiful things with the position fame has put her in. What qualifies that as shame-worthy?

Which leads me to my next frustration: how many people can honestly understand what it is like to be her? A multi-millionaire with one of the largest young, impressionable followings? She has done remarkably well to not stray into dangerous habits (at least that we know of). She deserves recognition for being one of the only people in the world who understand that. Comparing her to other famous women in the same demographic, how many of them deal with that scale of fan-following and mania? Or wealth? Or both while also being framed as a man-eater, cry-baby or worse?

Most recently, she doesn’t speak out on issues and they dub her as anti-feminism. Yet her sexual assault trial gets little to no coverage the way it should, her donation after the trial got 0 recognition as well. Taylor Swift should be considered a fucking warrior for handling this, and she got absolutely nothing. 

Look at what she’s just done on Jimmy Fallon. No agenda, just a beautiful and genuine offer of love and support to someone in their time of need. That is who Taylor Swift is. That is what Reputation is about. That is what her career should be defined by.

I’ve been a Taylor Swift fan since 2009. Middle-school was filled with t-shirts, posters covering my room, demanding only Taylor birthday cards, learning to play guitar and countless other interests. This went on for years. Like many of you, I became “that” Taylor Swift fan. 

But it went beyond my material involvement, Taylor’s example helped shaped me into a strong, self-sufficient and confident person. Throughout those formative high school years where we all struggle to find ourselves I managed to unapologetically strut my talents and personality with minimal struggles with self-love. I credit this to learning early on how to express myself and work through difficult emotions - a lesson learned by watching Taylor’s example.

Honestly, watching her career made me want to understand what makes people successful. Carefully analyzing and watching her over the years is what led me to my dream degree. Now, I’m top of my class and research how to build success like she has. I found my niche, my passion, my path in life because of watching her success. I found something I’m really fucking good at and do work I’m really fucking proud of because of watching the work her team does. I’m so thankful for that.

I never thought Taylor wasn’t worth defending. But like so many young, impressionable women, I was scared of making myself a target. I was scared of defending her while she got dragged for her work. This is where I failed her. I was scared of being outcasted for being a marketing nerd, so I shied away and explored other interests. I wish I had continued to vocalize my support for her the past couple of years rather than shying away. It’s a big regret for me.

Taylor has never shied away from a spotlight that has continually targeted her, framed her poorly, victimized her or shamed and blamed her for playing the victim. She barrelled through establishing her dominance, owning her brand, and then reclaiming it like a fucking queen through Reputation. 

I never had the strength to do this in my life until recently. In my own life, I’m reclaiming my time, reclaiming MY reputation (which, without going into a backstory, has seen it’s own unfair blows recently and has hurt me tremendously), and reclaiming my fucking life because Taylor has shown me, yet again, how to come out on top of struggle.

As a public relations student, I look back on the work Taylor has done and I see her not just as a music icon or role model. I see her marketing intelligence, thorough understanding of her fans and how to reach to them, and how to manage her reputation which has been thrown under the bus and pulled through the mud for over a decade.

As a fan, I see how she’s grown, strengthened and shined through unchartered waters, and how after all these years she is still underestimated, undervalued and under-loved. 

As a woman, I see my sister who needs more support for the brilliancy in which she’s handled the cards she’s been dealt. I see an example set for me and girls after me. Taylor didn’t ask for that when she released Tim McGraw, but she’s done it anyway on her own terms. I value that. I stand by that. I won’t be silent any longer.

I hope there are fans like me out there who see this and agree. I’m tired of being the only fucking person I know who thinks this. And I hope it’s not too late for these words, for my to label myself as a Taylor Swift fan and own it. I just hope I’m not alone in this anymore. (Is the term Swifty or Swifties still a thing? Is that like a ten years ago thing? I’m so out of the loop now.)

[thebandcampdiaries]

Methodical - Not My World.

Methodical is a band with a rather innovative sound. Their music blurs the lines between Metal, Industrial, and Electronic music. Influences as diverse as Slipknot, Nine Inch Nails and Rammstein come to mind, especially considering their most recent studio effort, “Not My World.”

This song has an astonishing production value. The guitars are more than gigantic. They are true walls of sound, towering through the mix. The bass and drums offer a solid rhythm section to really bring so much to the flow and feel of this song. Last, but decidedly not least, the vocals are really exciting, because they soar on top of the mix, without ever overpowering the other instruments.

Find out more about Methodical, and do not miss out on “Not My World,” which is currently available on the web:

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aWoOmfGez8

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/methodicaltheband/

Logo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qo04xku0bdy9cd3/M_New_Logo.jpg?dl=0

Image: https://www.dropbox.com/s/rs3u7n98wfoq2l2/Methodical_Table.jpg?dl=0

We also had the chance to chat with the artist: keep reading to learn more!

I love how you manage to render “Not My World” so huge, yet so personal and organic. Does the melody come first, or do you focus on creating a texture with the instrument the most?

Tony - For "Not My World", I was more focused on the musical arrangement other than the texture of the sound. Experimenting with different sounds came much later in the process as I was more focused on having solid sections for each part of the song.

Do you perform live? If so, do you feel more comfortable on a stage or within the walls of the recording studio?

Tony - I'm way more comfortable on a stage. Of course, I love feeling accomplished over a great take or an incredible guitar tone I got at the studio, however on stage you get that immediate reaction. There's an energy there that can't easily be replaced in my opinion.

Sean - My answer to this question will always be the same because, for me, it's a tough one.  I really love both playing live and capturing the right sound in the studio.  At the moment, I will say I'm more comfortable with that specific thing that I am doing right then.

What do you think it’s really unique about “Not My World” when compared to other tracks in this genre?

Tony - I think the message in the lyrics is what stands out when compared to others. While an angry song, Wil presents it as a way to put his story out there to help others who may be struggling with the same issues he faced when he was younger.

Sean - I would definitely agree with Tony on this one.  The message is what stands out the most Not My World.  On the other hand, the dubstep-ish programming gives it a certain kick.

With that said, what does it take to be “innovative” in music?

Tony - Just be open to other music. Listen to anything and everything. The type of music I've always enjoyed was always blends of different genres. It'll make your mind work differently when writing music. It always has for me.

Sean - Again, would have to agree with Tony.  Opening up to different genres of music absolutely made me think about music as a whole differently.

Any upcoming release or tour your way?

Tony - "You Want Us", is our newest single which comes out July 4th! Can't wait for you guys to listen to that one! It'll be available on all streaming platforms.

While we are working on more shows in the coming months, we will be performing alongside Powerman 5000, Hed PE, Adema, and Blacklist Regulars on October 30th at Dingbatz in Clifton, NJ.

Anywhere online where curious fans can listen to your music and find out more about you?

Answer:

Tony - Our music is available on all streaming platforms and you can find us on Facebook and Instagram @ MethodicalTheBand for all news and updates!

[lauraramargosian]

Ariana Grande’s actions prove her heart is full of genuine love for the world.

Ariana Grande’s actions prove her heart is full of genuine love for the world.

When you hear the word Hollywood, what comes to mind? Could it be fame, money, luxurious lifestyles and their influence?

Honestly, there is no right or wrong answer. Hollywood is filled with positive and negative influences, it’s not a secret.

That’s why celebrities who are positive examples are so important to the industry. In fact, if you think about it, you can compare this to your own workplace. There are always positive people and those who are difficult.

True charity is the desire to be useful to others with no thought of recompense. – Emanuel Swedenborg

Hollywood is filled with positive influences including Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato, Mac Miller, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Kesha, Selena Gomez.

In fact, each of these artists took the time to share their own battles in an effort to help others in the world.

For example, when the Manchester attack happened, which killed 22 concertgoers and injured more than 500 other individuals.

Grande couldn’t sleep without giving back and helping those in need. And what she did next was absolutely beautiful.

The Manchester Attack

After the Manchester attack, Ariana Grande felt sad. I mean, can you imagine how it would feel to have one of your events crashed by evil terrorists? As a human being, I can only imagine the pain and heartache she felt for those who were in attendance.

To further illustrate, she took to social media to share her emotions.

“My heart, prayers and deepest condolences are with the victims of the Manchester Attack and their loved ones.

There is nothing I or anyone can do to take away the pain you are feeling or to make this better.

However, I extend my hand and heart and everything I possibly can give to you and yours, should you want or need my help in any way.

The only thing we can do now is choose how we let this affect us and how we live our lives from here on out.

I have been thinking of my fans and of you all, non-stop over the past week. The way you have handled all of this has been more inspiring and made me more proud than you’ll ever know.

The compassion, kindness, love, strength, and oneness that you’ve shown one another this past week is the exact opposite of the heinous intentions it must take to pull off something as evil as what happened Monday.

YOU are the opposite.

I am sorry for the pain and fear that you must be feeling and for the trauma that you, too, must be experiencing.

We will never be able to understand why events like this take place because it is not in our nature, which is why we shouldn’t recoil.”

– Ariana Grande

As a result of the attack, Ariana Grande and her manager Scooter Braun put their heads together to make a positive difference. The time had come to show these terrorists they cannot stop love, they cannot stop us from gathering, celebrating music and showing compassion for one another, they will never win.

The gorgeous 25-year-old singer worked hard to pull together The One Love Manchester benefit concert and it was perfect beyond, leaving many feeling empathies, love, acceptance and kindness for one another.

Beauty comes in many shapes and sizes. And Ariana Grande? Well, she’s just one of the many beautiful things we got to witness during the Manchester benefit concert.

The classy lady was joined by many other high-profile talent including Justin Bieber, Mac Miller, Ariana Grande, the Black Eyed Peas, Coldplay, Miley Cyrus, Marcus Mumford, Niall Horan, Little Mix, Katy Perry, Take That, Imogen Heap, Pharrell Williams, Robbie Williams, and Liam Gallagher.

Ariana Grande is a positive influence for so many people, including those who were fans during her “Victorious,” television series days.

One fan told PCG how he stumbled upon Ariana Grande and how she has influenced his life.

“In 2010, during the height of my prolonged unemployment, I stumbled onto Victorious. Yes, the show is geared toward children, however, the simplicity of a television program was a necessary distraction from falling into emotional despair. The adorable actress with the red hair caught my attention. She role-played her character so well that it brightened my mood. You just had to keep on rooting for her.”

Another fan Jess Morgan opened up about the tragedy. She said:

“These past few weeks have been tough for every single person! When I first heard about what happened at Ariana Grande’s concert, I was shocked. I didn’t want to believe it! Hearing the passing of the incredible people and the injured was terrifying. Ariana and her team did absolutely amazing and their response was outstanding. I heard what she planned to do which she offered to pay for the funeral and doing a benefit concert. Honestly, she is brave and fearless. She gathered numerous artists together on one stage and fans come from all over the world to come together to celebrate the lives of the people who sadly passed away! The way she and her team did this was brilliant as at the concert you could not sent fear anywhere it was all filled with love and braveness! When everyone sang especially Ariana you could tell the passion she was giving. She has coped so so well during this tough time! She deserves everything she is an inspiration to young teens. I love her so so much

From jess xxx”

A fan who can be found on Twitter, shared how he first learned about Ariana Grande.

“A few years passed and I later learned that she came out with an album (This sounds awkward), but her music is cheerful. Being an actress and singer are two entities, yet it was pleasant that she was not typecast.

It was natural for me to still be in her fan base since she helped me during a difficult period. As a guy in his now mid-30s, it is a bit frightening to acknowledge how I initially found out about Ariana Grande.

The prejudice and stereotypes usual pop out. Her duet with the Weeknd, definitely highlighted that she was able to break free from that teenybopper image.

Side-to-Side and Focus music videos depict her as the confident, kick-ass woman.”

He also gained more admiration for the singer after the Manchester benefit concert.

“I admired her for returning across the Atlantic. Adding “I cannot think of other entertainers that would have done what she did. imagined other people might have easily stopped touring, just briefly. Yet, she did it. She is not this diva character that the media tends to categorize her as.” He continued. “Entertainment is always a distraction from reality. She wanted that locality a moment to relax. Also, it might show that she too needed comfort or closure by returning.”

Scooter Braun (Ariana Grande’s manager) opened up about the event when he walked onto the One Love Manchester benefit concert stage.

“To my friend Ariana Grande and the entire Dangerous Woman crew, myself and all of us around the world are so grateful for you for stepping up and taking action. We also want to thank the Manchester first responders and all the bystanders who are probably here tonight, who risk their lives to save others, please give a round of applause to them.”

“I also want to say, prepared words, before we introduce my friend Ariana.

And Uh, putting those words aside for a second, last night this nation was challenged were challenged and all of you were challenged and you had a decision to make if you were going to come out here tonight.

And this is so beautiful.

You guys made that decision, you guys looked fear right in the face and said “no we are Manchester,” and the world is watching.”

As you can see, Ari’s influence has gone above and beyond the normal “expectations,” of her job in entertainment.

Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez & Seth Rogen at WE Day! Yay for charity!

It’s true, celebrities have a tight and busy schedule, they have their own contracts and deadlines just as we do in life. And even though our lives are busy, some of us still get out and volunteer to make a difference.

Ari is no different than us, she seeks to make a positive impact not only with her musical talents but with her actions.

Did you know Ariana Grande also supports other causes?

null

Cancer Research Institute

Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation

Entertainment Industry Foundation

Make-A-Wish Foundation

Melanoma Research Alliance

PETA

Ryan Seacrest Foundation

Stand Up To Cancer

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

TJ Martell Foundation

Going above and beyond is a choice.

That’s why actions speak louder than words.

I love the positive vibes that Ariana Grande puts into her passions, life and most importantly, her family, friends, and fans.

What’s something you love about the classy singer, aside from her new single

Sound off in the comments below!

Additionaly, since you love positive news, feel free to subscribe to our positive celebrity newsletter. That way you can stay up-to-date on the latest positive celebrity gossip and entertainment news.

We can also make your Facebook feed brighter by hitting the thumbs up on our Facebook page.

Much love stranger friends.

Blessed be.

Ariana Grande – 7 rings

jQuery(".fb-page").hide(); (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&appId=&version=v3.1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, "script", "facebook-jssd"));

Positive Celebrity Gossip - Laurara Monique

Laurara Monique is known by various celebrities as the youngest and kindest celebrity blogger. PCG has been described as a "celebrity safe zone."

Positive Celebrity Gossip - Laurara Monique shared Laura Margosian's post.

Healthy "discussions," are important to most relationships, after all, how else do you understand how someone is feeling? Always listen and don't scream at one another, you're in this together, that's how I see it.

8 1    View on Facebook

Positive Celebrity Gossip - Laurara Monique

I'm now streaming on Twitch! Playing FINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION

lauraramonique - Twitch

Final Fantasy XV | Sidequests or Comrades |

twitch.tv

1 1    View on Facebook

Positive Celebrity Gossip - Laurara Monique

California Strong has gone above and beyond. The charity event, California Strong had high-profile celebrities including Adam Sandler, Jamie, Foxx, Rainn Wilson, Mira Sorvino, Dennis Rodman, Brad Paisley, Charlie Sheen, Robin Thicke, Rob Riggle, Matt Leinart, Reggie Miller, Justin Turner, Baker Mayfield, professional baseball players Christian Yelich, Ryan Braun, and Mike Moustakas, Rams Quarterback, Jared Goff, joined with the Southeast Ventura County YMCA to create California Strong. #PositiveCelebrityNews #AdamSandler #CaliforniaStrong #PCGMagazine

California Strong celebrity charity softball game raises money for fire and shooting victims!

California Strong celebrity softball game raises money for fire and shooting victims

positivecelebrity.news

6 2    View on Facebook

Positive Celebrity Gossip - Laurara Monique

Mom..... mom!!!!.... MOM!!!!!!!!

13 4 5    View on Facebook

jQuery.fn.isolatedScrollFacebookFTS = function() {this.bind("mousewheel DOMMouseScroll", function (e) {var delta = e.wheelDelta || (e.originalEvent && e.originalEvent.wheelDelta) || -e.detail,bottomOverflow = this.scrollTop + jQuery(this).outerHeight() - this.scrollHeight >= 0,topOverflow = this.scrollTop <= 0;if ((delta < 0 && bottomOverflow) || (delta > 0 && topOverflow)) {e.preventDefault();}});return this;};jQuery(".fts-fb-scrollable").isolatedScrollFacebookFTS();

The post Ariana Grande’s actions prove her heart is full of genuine love for the world. appeared first on Positive Celebrity News and Gossip.

No related posts.

from WordPress https://positivecelebrity.news/2019/01/18/ariana-grandes-actions-prove-her-heart-is-full-of-genuine-love-for-the-world/

[13thfloornz]

  A cold midweek evening was livened up by Migos who lit up the Spark Arena by playing an extremely heated, energetic and sweaty show to an almost capacity Spark Arena last night, on their first visit to New Zealand. Their assault on the visual and auditory senses included circle pits, visuals and pyrotechnics, all which bemused the predominantly young attendees in the audience.

The trio from Lawrenceville, Georgia, formed in 2009, are now undeniably one of the biggest rap trios making waves right now. Gigging off the back of their popular 2016 album Culture, the tour finally saw them visit New Zealand and Australia for the first time. There were many questions and lively debate about whether or not the group would be actually allowed past New Zealand airport border control due to trio’s high number of legal issues, fortunately for us, they did make it through.

Opening act was Baltimore R’n’B artist 6lack (pronounced black) who brought a lot of pre show hype and energy, which successfully got the crowd engaged in the set with help from excellent backing band. I was unsure of what to expect from his set but I was impressed by his vocals which reminded very much of his past touring partner and now legendary The Weeknd. Accompanying his skillful performance was a great set of visuals.

By the end of 6lack’s performance, I had already witnessed many crowd tumbles and unfortunate audience members being pulled out of the packed crowd by security staff which made me feel relieved I was able to view from the safety of the stands whilst remaining fearful for the health of the crowd below when the headlining act would take the stage.

Between 6lack’s stage pack down and Migo’s set up, a selection of popular tunes was played to keep the crowd patient and maintain the excitement. Most notably, tracks such as Cardi B’s Bodak Yellow and Kendrick Lamar’s m.A.A.d city which saw the crowd go wild with ecstasy and enthusiasm; I had never seen a crowd as big as this one and so ready to get down with the performers.

At 9:30 DJ Durel took to the stage to warm up the crowd, although it was already proven his fifteen minute time in the lime light was not needed. He played tracks from other hip hop artists such as Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Ferg and Future who recently cancelled his show at the same venue.

Finally after waiting for what felt like forever, at 9:45 Migos finally graced the stage to a visual of DJ Khaled yelling “Migos” over and over again. They wasted no time and instantly launched into track Get Right Witcha, the whole arena went crazy and fans were losing their minds and inhibitions!

Unfortunately among all the hype and energy, I was disappointed to realise the backtracks were much louder than the vocals and group bad boy Takeoff looked like he was not happy to be there, standing in one place with his hoodie up and barely pressing his microphone to his lips. Nevertheless, Offset and Quavo were the clear crowd favourites and putting in the most effort to the stage presence.

My satisfaction with the performance diminished and dissolution grew by the third song on the set list What the Price? The vocals just turned into tuneless yelling and the effort that was present in the song had disappeared and this so early in to the performance.

One of the major highlights in the set was when the group demanded the crowd opened a circle pit which, although taking a couple attempts to succeed, was raw and amazing to watch unfold.

Nearing the end of performance, I had grown tired of hearing similar sounding trap beats and effortless yelling. This feeling endured until they played their hit song Bad and Boujee. Quavo demanded that the crowd get out their torches and give it all their best; the crowd responded in kind. The pyrotechnics were shown off to their full potential and trio all joined in including Takeoff who was absent in the original recording of this track.

The trio brought their forty five minute performance to an end at 10:30, with DJ Durel concluding with a small DJ set. The fans were pleased and soaked in sweat, I was exhausted although a bit disappointed, I had never been the biggest fan of rap concerts and Migos did nothing to change my mind but I gave it a fair hearing and this was not the worse way to spend a few hours!

Jonathan Strock

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by David Watson:

#gallery-0-4 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 16%; } #gallery-0-4 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Migos – Spark Arena October 10, 2017 A cold midweek evening was livened up by Migos who lit up the Spark Arena by playing an extremely heated, energetic and sweaty show to an almost capacity Spark Arena last night, on their first visit to New Zealand. 

[hitnaija]

NOT JUST K-POP: THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE OF KOREAN MUSIC

From SAAY to DPR, a new wave of homegrown musical acts are rewriting the rules.

The burgeoning Korean music scene is no longer solely focused on K-pop. Lately, many Korean artists have gone on to independently release their music, start their own labels, or simply find companies that allow them to express themselves. The formula for success has become much less rigid, and the lines are blurring between those in the underground and mainstream. To better showcase this growth, we talked to one artist and one label founder who are both shifting the industry in their own ways.

SAAY is a former girl group member turned singer and model, whose musical journey is now completing her own. On a Zoom call from her studio, where she’s currently working on new music that is set to be released this year, she speaks about her perspective and approach: “I’m the one who expresses what I want to say with my music…and I don’t care about other people’s views when I create something, there is only my music and myself.” From encouraging her supporters to love themselves, to be vocal about the Black Lives Matter movement, her attitude is a source of inspiration and comfort. When it comes to her diverse fanbase, SAAY describes them as the reason she has found global success. “They are the link between me and the world to me, and the most important bridge I would say. Communication with my fans is as important to me as making music.”

When it comes to the industry at large, SAAY is proud of the fact that it’s evolving at such a fast pace. “Until three years ago, the music scene of our country which we watched from abroad was not that great. But now, if we have a chance, we can collaborate with overseas artists right away. We respect that we are Korean even when we go abroad. They have so many respectful views about Koreans right now. I think all of this has a lot of influence on idols and musicians in a good direction.”

#gallery-0-5 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 100%; } #gallery-0-5 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Universal Music Group

SAAY isn’t signed to a K-pop entertainment company, but rather a subsidiary of an American music corporation, Universal Music Korea. What attracted her to it was her passion and global mindset. “There [have been] a lot of great artists at Universal Music Group, like Ariana Grande and Amy Winehouse, from old to current times, and it’s one of the top three music labels in the world right now.” Beyond joining the ranks of legendary superstars, SAAY elaborates on her decision to join the music company: “ I was certain that I could support my music at such a huge scale, and my dream since I was very young was to sign a contract with Universal Music. I’m doing my music happier because I achieved that dream.”

With the dancing and high-quality performance ability of idol groups, and the melodic sound of the Korean R&B scene, SAAY doesn’t fit in the box of K-pop, but she also isn’t completely underground. This fluidity points to the future and fast-changing presence of Korean music. To define her sound, she poetically labels herself as a “horizon.”

“You know, like an existing line that can be seen everywhere around the world? You can feel and see the horizon whenever you want, wherever you are.” As far as the future, SAAY predicts, “I think many fans and listeners all over the world will begin to see Korean music, gradually, on the Billboard charts, if it continues to develop just like now. As art and the music world are becoming more and more united right now, I’m sure it will happen very soon.” For her own personal goals, SAAY shares, “I hope to have my own world tour after this whole pandemic situation.”

“I think many fans and listeners all over the world will begin to see Korean music, gradually, on the Billboard charts.” — SAAY

On the other side of the artistry is the refreshing rise of independent labels and collectives, where artists and creatives have the power over their own work. DPR REM founded his label, Dream Perfect Regime, about five years ago. The process was organic, as he explains, “We all met up through mutual friends in the beginning. Just did normal kid stuff then — eat, play, chill, etc. But as time passed and we started talking amongst each other about various ideas and goals, we all realized we shared a similar passion for entertainment and all things related to it, and that’s really how it started.” He continues, “We had no idea how to start, or even where to look to, but we trusted each other’s commitment. That’s really all it took. Everything else came through trial and error, to be honest.”

Many fans of the Korean hip hop scene are familiar with DPR, a multi-genre collective with a structure reminiscent of A$AP Mob. Well-known members include director and chief editor DPR Ian, artist DPR Live, producer DPR Cream, and the founder REM. Everything done in DPR is a team effort, and REM describes this as the core of the collective. “All the employees here at DPR, from our members to our ideas, to our projects (music, visuals, fashion, etc.) — it’s all done by us, the team. I say this time and time again, but we really pride ourselves on the fact that we don’t have anyone to tell us what to do or how to do it.” There are no set goals for the future of the label, besides having fun and remembering to keep all creative efforts in-house. “That’s what made us who we are, and that’s our DNA that I feel like we have to preserve.”

View this post on Instagram

moreLife

A post shared by DPR REM (@dprrem) on Aug 16, 2018 at 12:11am PDT

A huge draw for the work coming from the label is authenticity and openness. The directors and producers are just as recognizable to fans as the artist. Every member of DPR is just as significant to the process as the next, and this equality extends behind the scenes as well, as REM aims to be “a friend first and foremost” to everyone at DPR, and sometimes gets frustrated with his role as the “business guy.” He explains, “DPR is a family beyond anything else, and I think it’s my job to keep it that way.”

“I say this time and time again, but we really pride ourselves on the fact that we don’t have anyone to tell us what to do or how to do it.”

— DPR REM

Unlike bigger corporations that outsource or separate into different departments, with a smaller team, DPR does things differently in its own way. Due to the fast-paced nature of the business, “it’s quite the challenge is always trying to deliver content to our fans and keeping up with the pace of other companies or labels,” according to REM. “However, the way we go about our content, it really isn’t a numbers game…it’s more important putting all of our attention into one thing at a time.” The reason for this approach is simple: “That is the best way to quality-control what gets produced and eventually submitted to the world. I make sure I’m in every step of the process overseeing everything.”

“We didn’t have the slightest clue in creating an entertainment label or what that even entailed, but I think that’s kind of what led to our own unique way of creating our own culture and the way we approach our music and visual aesthetic.” DPR REM and his team of homegrown creatives have surely found their footing despite building from the bottom up.

As SAAY and DPR demonstrate, the expectations and stereotypes that once boxed Korean musicians are slowly being broken down. It’s possible to be an idol, but it’s also possible to be an artist, and both sides of this equation are increasingly appealing to international audiences. Hopefully, as global music diversifies, where you come from won’t matter as much as the talent and hard work you’re willing to put in.

Author:

Ashlee Mitchell is a US-based freelance writer with a focus on Asian and Black pop culture. Her work can be found in Teen Vogue, i-D, Dazed, and others. You can connect with Mitchell on her website and Instagram.

Not Just K-Pop: The New Wave Of Korean Music NOT JUST K-POP: THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE OF KOREAN MUSIC

[sheilacwall]

hip hop isn’t dead.: Ice Cube

Somehow War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) is only the sixth solo album from rapper-slash-actor-slash-professional basketball league founder O’Shea “Ice Cube” Jackson. It feels like we’ve been discussing this motherfucker forever, or at least since 2007, right? Obviously the man has been doing a lot since his entrance into our chosen genre via N.W.A.: aside from his whole actor/writer/director side gig, he’s released compilations, been a part of multiple soundtrack releases, and even found time to create an entirely separate group, Westside Connection (alongside his protégée Mack 10 and his friend WC). But the man hasn’t ever truly stepped away from his solo career, which is part of the reason we’re talking about today’s subject.

War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Album) is the second half of a project that Cube conceived way back in the previous century (read: 1998). War & Peace, curiously named after the soft drink and not the Tolstoy doorstop, served as our host’s excuse to deliver the gangsta rap and social commentary he was best known for post-Jerry Heller, along with some attempts to construct a much broader audience through radio airplay, club bangers, cautionary tales, and skinny-dipping in the waters of different musical genres. Although for some reason I’m remembering this being announced as a double-disc effort, Ice Cube released the first volume, subtitled The War Disc, close to the Thanksgiving holiday in 1998, with The Peace Disc scheduled to follow soon after, as they were recorded and compiled at the same time.

The War Disc was met with mixed reviews, as Cube rested on his laurels a bit too much: there’s one song that is a direct sequel to one of his classic tracks, “Once Upon a Time In The Projects 2”; he leaned heavily on a younger artist signed to his label, Mr. Short Khop (who, interestingly enough, doesn’t appear on The Peace Disc at all); there’s a collaboration with motherfucking Korn called “Fuck Dying”. (Cube also appeared on Korn’s 1998 album Follow the Leader: both songs helped cue up the inaugural Family Values tour, which they were both headliners on.) But aside from a couple of tracks that played into his storytelling skills, The War Disc quietly vanished from rotation, leaving our host to retool the planned follow-up in an effort to course-correct.

War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc), the final album released under Cube’s deal with Priority Records, is definitely not what was already completed when The War Disc was released. For one, the very first track, “Hello”, is a collaboration with former N.W.A. bandmates MC Ren and Dr. Dre, a move which wouldn’t have happened in 1998, but made more sense in 2000 after N.W.A. officially reunited for a song off of the soundtrack for Cube’s Next Friday (and also after Dre released 2001, a blockbuster project that put him back on the map). In addition, the first single, “You Can Do It”, came from that same soundtrack and was Cube’s most popular radio hit since 1997’s “We Be Clubbin’”. So I get why he’d want to retool the project to capitalize on those strengths.

The Peace Disc vanished seemingly quicker than its predecessor, possibly due to the chart dominance of his friend Dr. Dre and Dre’s artist Eminem at the time. It did manage to sell over five hundred thousand units in the United States, but find me somebody who proudly has this one displayed in their collection. I dare you. I double dog dare you, motherfucker. Nobody gives a fuck about War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc), and I include Ice Cube in that description. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the album is entirely bad, so let’s peek under the hood and review this sucker.

1. HELLO (FEAT. DR. DRE & MC REN)

O’Shea hits the ground running, commissioning an N.W.A. reunion that is much more successful than their official comeback on the Next Friday soundtrack (“Chin Check”, for those of you keeping score). A simplistic Dr. Dre. prescription, which bangs, lays the groundwork for Dre, MC Ren, and our host Ice Cube to… complain about the current (as of 2000, anyway) state of hip hop like the elder statesmen they are: they have a specific grievance regarding not being credited for “start[ing] this gangsta shit” (which absolutely isn’t true, but regardless of who you think kicked off the sub-genre, the various members of N.W.A. are cited as influences all. The. Goddamn. Time. Maybe not Yella). As far as old dudes talking shit as though evolution in language and culture hadn’t ever occurred, Ren comes across as alright (his comment about lesbians not exactly homophobic but still iffy nevertheless), while Andre sticks with his “I’m rich, I don’t have to do shit” mentality. Thankfully, O’Shea tears through his verse with a ferocity he hasn’t displayed since Westside Connection’s Bow Down, and I say that even though the phase of his career where he insisted on nicknaming himself the “Don Dada” is still represented on here. So yeah, this was a success overall. Thank God, right? I mean, can you imagine two subpar late-period N.W.A. reunion tracks in a row?

2. PIMP HOMEO (SKIT)

I know Cube’s trying to be funny here, but this was bad. At least it wasn’t homophobic, though, as the title may have implied. Absolutely misogynistic, though.

3. YOU AIN’T GOTTA LIE (TA KICK IT) (FEAT. CHRIS ROCK)

Fairly confusing, as “You Ain’t Gotta Lie (Ta Kick It”) isn’t really the love rap sort-of promised by the preceding skit. O’Shea spits his boasts-n-bullshit, which, interestingly enough, include proclamations of being a great father, while guest Chris Rock threatens to undermine the entire operation with his contributions to the hook. The concept isn’t set up well enough for this three-man production (this was credited to former Bad Boy Hitman Chucky Thompson along with Rich Nice and Loren Hill) to make any fucking sense, as Cube isn’t really hitting on anyone as much as he’s offering up facts about himself as though he recorded his bars while standing behind a podium, while Rock tries to come up with the most ridiculous lies during the hook. Dude is kind of amusing toward the end, but overall this shit was a misfire. It was good while it lasted, though.

4. THE GUTTER SHIT (FEAT. JAYO FELONY, GANGSTA, & SQUEAK RU)

LOL there’s a rapper named Gangsta? Have we officially used up all of the words? Anywhoozle, our host envisioned “The Gutter Shit” as a collaboration with like-minded West Coast artists, but could only convince Jayo Felony and two other no-names to commit, and my Lord does this Cube- and T-Bone-produced aural interpretation of a sad face emoji suuuuuuuuuck. The two artists on here that you’ve never heard of before or since seem excited enough for the opportunity but flounder when called upon, while Jayo is terrible as always. But the true loser here is our host, who somehow found the time to contribute two awful verses that wouldn’t even be stocked in the same type of store as the gutter shit he was once capable of. And what the fuck is with that reference to the previous track?

5. SUPREME HUSTLE

There is no planet within our galaxy where Ice Cube could have honestly believed that “Supreme Hustle” was a song good enough to make War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc). My guess is that the production trio from “You Ain’t Gotta Lie (Ta Kick It)” had called in a collective Make-A-Wish, as this elementary excursion into simplistic rap boasting is embarrassing as shit to listen to. At least our host sticks with his theme: each of the three verses places emphasis on “I”, “you”, and “we”, respectively. But there is no hustle to be found on here, and O’Shea’s hand-waving about what he considers to be the cause of domestic violence was puzzling as hell. I cannot stress enough how fucking godawful this shit was.

6. MENTAL WARFARE (SKIT)

…

7. 24 MO’ HOURS

When critics mention older rappers struggling to sound relevant with their newer songs, “24 Mo’ Hours” is what they’re referring to. If War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) were released today, the Battlecat instrumental, which both sucks and doesn’t fit our host’s general aesthetic, which is a strange critique given Battlecat’s history of producing Cali-based bangers, would almost certainly be swapped out for something from the likes of Metro Boomin’ or Zaytoven, and it would still sound terrible. Ugh.

8. UNTIL WE RICH (FEAT. KRAYZIE BONE)

I heard “Until We Rich” on the radio once probably in 2000 or so, and then have apparently never thought of it again until right now, which I believe is an accurate representation of how forgettable this Chucky & the Thompsons production was. Guest star Krayzie Bone, still riding a Bone Thugs-N-Harmony career wave at the time, circles and underlines Slick Rick’s “Hey Young World” with his performance, which is dull, while O’Shea tries his darnedest to give listeners an optimistic, motivational speech, even going so far as to censor his own cursing, so as to reach as wide an audience as possible. Sure, “Until We Rich” fits the ‘peace’ requirement of this project, but at what cost?

9. YOU CAN DO IT (FEAT. MACK 10 & MS. TOI)

You two already know this song, which first appeared on the soundtrack for Next Friday in 1999 but was popular enough to justify Priority Records placing it on as many projects as possible, I suppose. For the handful of readers who somehow missed this footnote in popular culture, “You Can Do It”, a spiritual follow-up to “We Be Clubbin’”, the hit single from our host’s directorial debut The Players Club, finds Cube, Ms. Toi, and his boy Mack 10 putting their asses into a One Eye-produced club effort that is slight on lyrics, but is rather catchy otherwise. It sounds so fucking absurd today that it somehow shifts from “corny” to “entertainingly corny” during Cube’s opening verse and never once budges again. At least our host sounded engaged on here, unlike most everything else on War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) thus far, and having Mack 1-0 perform over a fast-paced beat forces him to match that energy or die trying. Inessential, but it brings the pretty girls at the club out onto the floor, in case that helps you in any way.

10. MACKIN’ & DRIVING (SKIT)

Playing War & Peace Vol. 1 (The War Disc)’s first single, “Pushin’ Weight”, in the background of this interlude only reminded me of rapper Mr. Short Khop, whose career was abruptly halted after Cube stopped giving a shit about his young charge. I mean, why else would he not have been a good enough performer to make it to the second volume? Good call by the way, O’Shea.

11. GOTTA BE INSANITY

Curious, but not entirely out of left field when you remember “You Can Do It” was a hit, so why wouldn’t O’Shea go back to that well? The funky-ish guitar loop on this Mario Winans (!) production reminded me of Jermaine Dupri’s “Going Home With Me”, except I like that song and found this one to be middling at best, as Cube panders to the lowest common denominator while trying to get back inside the club. I can’t be sure who our host thought his audience was when he recorded “Gotta Be Insanity”, but he’s done enough good work and has earned the ability to record and release whatever he wants. Still doesn’t mean we’re all required to listen to any of it, however.

12. ROLL ALL DAY

As we all know and agree with every third Wednesday at our meetings, the best storytelling raps are the ones where you don’t realize the artist is even telling a story until the third verse. That’s what happens on “Roll All Day”, anyway. Over a One Eye beat that doesn’t entirely gel but has its moments, Ice Cube boasts about having purchased a full tank of gas (a fact repeated throughout, with a humorous callback toward the end) and offering to cruise around with a woman he just met in exchange for sexual intercourse. You know, standard-issue rap-type shit, but it begs the question: why is she so interested in the car? Has the woman in question never been inside an automobile before? Cube could have probably rolled up on a pedal bike and worked out a similar proposition just because he’s Ice Cube, but I suppose there’s no vehicle for a story there (pun intended). Regardless, he never gets that far, as by the third verse she’s [SPOILER ALERT FOR A NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD SONG] broken the car’s windows and, later, stolen it outright. His flow is strictly boasts-n-bullshit until the ending, where he reveals some of that sense of humor he tapped into while writing Friday. “Roll All Day” is meh, but the effort was appreciated, at least.

13. CAN YOU BOUNCE?

This was fucking terrible, and that’s without O’Shea making a Pokemon reference, which he absolutely does on here. So that happened. (Also, Younglord apparently produced the beat. Was War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) designed as Ice Cube’s covert demo reel to hopefully snag a label deal with Bad Boy Records? Because the gambit hasn’t paid off yet.)

14. DINNER WITH THE CEO (SKIT)

…

15. RECORD COMPANY PIMPIN’

The flip side of EPMD’s “Please Listen To My Demo”, down to the same Faze-O “Riding High” sample being used, as Ice Cube and producer Bud’da urge the youth not to get involved in the rap game without learning the business side of the industry first. Advice such as this can only come from someone who was famously jerked around by their label in the past, as Cube was during his short stint with Ruthless Records, but while the man clearly knows of what he speaks, that doesn’t mean “Record Company Pimpin’” (a topic many artists have tackled before and since O’Shea put pen to paper) is an entertaining song to actually listen to. Our host should have taken these ideas and given a TED Talk instead. That’s not a joke: imagine how many people he could help in the process. But you can skip this track outright.

16. WAITIN’ TA HATE

So it turns out that War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) is a stealth EPMD tribute album filtered through a Puff Daddy lens. That’s a lie, obviously, but “Waitin’ Ta Hate” is the second song in a row to pay homage to Erick and Parish specifically, although this time around producers One Eye and DJ Joe Rodriguez (that name gets to the point, can’t be mad at that) get lazy by choosing to just sample “So Wat Cha Sayin’” directly. For his part, O’Shea sounds downright angry on here, which informs an entertaining performance that isn’t reminiscent of his finest work, but let’s be real, it’s the best we’ll get at this point. The production doesn’t do much to differentiate itself from the EPMD standard, but maybe, this time around, it isn’t such a bad thing. (Side note to E-Double: you should give Cube a shout for a future collaboration, as the man is clearly a fan.)

17. N—A OF THE CENTURY

Accompanied by someone that could be that Pain In Da Ass dude whose entire shtick was aping flicks such as Scarface and Goodfellas to open up early Roc-A-Fella Records projects but likely isn’t, which means there were two of these guys in our chosen genre at some point, which seems wasteful somehow, our host caps off the evening lobbying for an award that doesn’t exist. Charley Chap’s production is too dull to properly reward Ice Cube as a winner of any competition, and O’Shea’s own bars aren’t worth wasting a paragraph on. At least we’re done here.

FINAL THOUGHTS: War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) approaches self-parody at points, as Ice Cube genuinely seems to not understand just what it was about his work that listeners connected with back in the early 1990s. It certainly wasn’t this shit: nobody ever wanted to hear what it would have sounded like had Cube signed with Bad Boy Records twelve years after his prime. The O’Shea Jackson found on this project is a man who is content with his station in life: the only time he ever really comes across as passionate about anything is when he’s schooling younger artists on the inner workings of the music industry, a topic that obviously resonates with him. Even his generic threats on “Hello”, a song I fucking liked his performance on, sound more like amiable suggestions than anything. When Cube gets in his storytelling bag, he seems to at least be having some fun with this shit (not that it always translates for the listener), but when he’s simply talking shit, the momentum on War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc), or whatever little momentum exists, halts immediately. Twenty years removed from his debut solo project, this album proved that Ice Cube was no longer vital to the ongoing health of the local hip hop concern. He has all of his other ventures to fall back on, and of course he’ll always be welcomed at the barbecues, but unless he’s laser-focused on targets (we’ll always have the first Westside Connection effort), he loses the plot very quickly, and one can only coast on charm and the acclaim derived from your prior work for so long.  I won’t go so far as to say that War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) is a “peace” of shit, because that pun is beneath me, but it’s plenty awful.

BUY OR BURN? Neither. If you absolutely must, stream the tracks listed below, but, you know, life is short.

BEST TRACKS: “Hello”; “Waitin’ Ta Hate”

-Max

RELATED POSTS:

            Source link

The post hip hop isn’t dead.: Ice Cube appeared first on Hip Hop World Music.

from Hip Hop World Music https://hiphopworldmusic.com/hip-hop-isnt-dead-ice-cube/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hip-hop-isnt-dead-ice-cube from Hip Hop World Music https://hiphopworldmusic.tumblr.com/post/187536375798

[templeofgeek]

Julie Dolan is an actress whose career has been quite expansive, spanning film, television, commercials, theater, voice-overs, music, and more. Ms. Dolan is the official voice for General/Princess Leia and has appeared in several Disney properties such as Disney Infinity 3.0 – The Force Awakens, Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures, and Star Wars Rebels to name a few. She also portrayed a keytar playing hamster, more on that later.

I reached out to Ms. Dolan to chat with her about her career. Here is Temple of Geek’s 10 Questions with Julie Dolan.

    (Danniel Slade) Ms. Dolan, thank you so much for taking the time to answer some of our questions. I would like to start off by asking you how you got your start in the business?

(Julie Dolan) I was born in Hollywood and my dad was in the industry and my mother started me in dance classes at 3 years old and acting and piano lessons at 9 years old. I got an agent when I was 9 or 10 and started going on interviews for TV, film and commercials.  I didn’t get into the voiceover business till later on. Once in a while when I was acting in a project, I would be asked to do a character voice that was needed and I started booking voices without having a VO demo or VO agent. One day my sister said, “You might want to put a little effort into some voiceover classes and get a voiceover demo and see where this could go”. I never thought it would end up going as far as playing “Princess Leia Organa”.  I went to classes (I still continue to take classes) I recorded a voiceover demo, got a voiceover agent and started booking voiceover jobs.

  (DS) You’re also a musician and have played with multiple bands. Can you tell me a little about your music career?

(JD) I started piano lessons at 9 years old playing classical music. A nun in a convent taught me. Later on in life . . .I somehow got myself involved playing keyboards in All Girl 80s Cover band and then proceeded to play with a lot of other cover bands and finally started working in the tribute band world. I have been in tributes to Alice Cooper, Tom Petty, Led Zeppelin and more.  I’m currently in Tribute Bands to INXS (INXSIVE) & Bon Jovi (BORN JOVI)  I also work with a David Bowie tribute off and on and my baby is “The UnderCoverGirls”. An all female Classic Rock Show. We now do an 80’s Tribute called “Radical Candy”.

    (DS) You are the official voice actress for General/Princess Leia, how did you land such a gig?

(JD) Sometime in 2010 I got a call from my agent and she asked me if I could sound like Princess Leia. I said “Hmmmm, I don’t think so” and she said “I have an audition for you – I don’t know what it is for, but here is the Obi-Wan Kenobi speech from A New Hope and an audio sample of what Princess Leia sounds like . . . try to match her voice”.  So I worked on the copy and the voice and when I felt I was ready I recorded it and submitted it to my agent and then she submitted it to Disney/Lucas Films.  At that time, we still didn’t know what the project was. Apparently, they had listened to auditions from about 200 girls and couldn’t find the voice they wanted. Then they brought in Carrie Fisher and they didn’t feel that she was the right fit for sounding like she did in A New Hope. . So they auditioned around 200 more girls and narrowed it down to 3 girls and I was one of the 3. They brought us into Disney Imagineering Studios where we recorded a speech that was similar to the Obi-Wan Kenobi speech but they altered some of the words to fit what the project was for.

I realized (by the dialogue) that it was for the new Star Tours – The Adventures Continue ride at Disneyland. After about two weeks I didn’t hear anything so I didn’t think I got the job and then my agent called me and told me that I booked it.  They heard something in my regular speaking voice that is very similar to Carrie Fisher. I don’t ‘put on’ the voice. You either have the timber, the pitch the essence of a voice or not. In May of 2011, they opened the new ride at Disneyland and my agent and I were invited to go see it. We sat there . . . anxiously awaiting Princess Leia’s hologram to appear and were so surprised when we heard the voice.  We thought it sounded exactly like me. I was almost embarrassed.  But the reviews from people were – that it sounded just like Princess Leia. I was so relieved!  It was a couple of years before I heard from them again. I got a call to meet with Dave Filoni (writer / director for Star Wars Rebels) He had heard my voice on the Star Tours ride. Here is an interview with him where he talks about it. (Rebels Recon #2.11: Inside “A Princess on Lothal” | Star Wars Rebels) Starts around the 2:30 mark.

They invited me to do in-house project for Disney. I did a couple scenes  (as Leia) and was hooked up to motion capture helmet.  . Still not sure what that was for.  A few weeks later I was booked on “Star Wars Rebels”. Following that came several video games and eventually “Lego Star Wars – The Freemaker Adventures” which premiered this past July (2016)

I was then asked if I could do “current” Carrie Fisher voice (General Leia) So I put on my hard hat and went back to work to see if I could match her current voice.

General Leia was a bit of a challenge for me at first but they were happy with it.

    (DS) Were you a fan of Star Wars before landing the part?

(JD) I am now! Of course I had seen the three trilogy movies back in the day but I was not an avid fan like the ones I have met since I’ve been invited into the Disney/Lucas Film family.

  (DS) What is it like voicing such an iconic character?

(JD) Well, you better damn well nail the voice or you’ll hear about it from the fans! When I booked Rebels, I did a lot of research.  I watched all six movies several times.

I read everything I could about Princess Leia: her goals, her aspirations, what she believed in, what she wanted. I watched her movements, her mannerisms, her emotions, so I could really get inside of Princess Leia’s head and try to become her as best as I could. I’m so grateful and how quickly I was welcomed into the family by Disney/Lucas Films and the fans.

  (DS) How does voice acting differ from live acting and do you prefer one over the other?

(JD) The process is the same. You map out the who, what, where, why, when of your character.

The approach is different for on camera, voice acting or theatre. For voice acting you are much more animated (no pun intended). For on camera, you bring it way down. One slight eye movement can say so much.

Theatre is so rewarding because you play the role from start to finish and have the live audience there for an immediate response which feeds your soul right then and there. I love working in TV/Film as well whether it’s “on camera” or “voice acting” because once you nail it, it’s captured and will live forever.

    (DS) I read online that you like theme parks and that you worked at Universal as a costumed character dancer for many years. What is it like knowing that you voice a character (Leia) for Star Tours that is playing at Disney Theme Parks around the world?

(JD) I worked at Universal Theme Park for 11 years dancing in shows such as “American Tail”, “Fievel Goes West”, “Land Before Time”, “The Flintstones”, “Rocky & Bullwinkle”, “The RugRats” – all live action shows. Great experience and that’s where I met my husband. (He is a stunt man and was in the “Wild Wild Wild West Show”)

With Star Tours now at Disneyland, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Tokyo Disney and will open at Disneyland Paris in March of 2017. . It’s an interesting feeling knowing that my voice as “Princess Leia” will probably live longer than me!

  (DS) You were in a KIA SOUL commercial that aired during the Olympics in 2016. I have to ask, what is it like playing a human sized hamster that plays keytar?

(JD) Yes, I am the Keytar playing Hamster in the Kia Soul Commercial featuring Nathaniel Rateliff, which is still airing!  Since I had done so much work as a costume character at Universal Studios, I was right at home in the costume and was able to move, dance and play the keytar. However, on THESE particular costumes, you don’t wear anything over your face so it’s a lot easier to breathe. You wear an open helmet so the CGI artists can see your face and then they draw exactly what facial movements you do. The only problem is, once you are in that costume, you need help to get out of it and it takes a while so ya don’t drink a lot of water ha ha.

    (DS) With the geek genre becoming so prevalent in today’s culture, is there a particular character that you would love to do either on film or as a voice?

(JD) I would love to continue to voice “Princess Leia”. She has become sort of a sister to me and I want to keep Carrie’s voice alive. My goal is to do voice work AND book an “On camera” role in the next Star Wars movie. Wish me luck. :-)  I would also love to play a character on the ABC Series “Once Upon A Time”.

I was heart-broken and devastated with Carrie and her mother’s death. I never got to meet Carrie but I had done a few shows with Debbie Reynolds (as a dancer) and Carrie was in the audience.

  (DS) Are there any future projects that we should be watching out for?

(JD) I have a few short films coming out that will be submitted to Festivals. One is called “Tell Me I Love You” and the other is called “Motor Mesa” and I am continuing to voice “Princess/General Leia” in different projects. I will be at Colossus Con in Pleasanton, CA on Saturday, April 8th and am hoping to go to the Star Wars Convention in Florida also in April.

  (DS) Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me. Please let our audience know how to find out more about you.

(JD) Thank you for having me!  I have an autograph store where people can choose photos and I will personally autograph them. We also just got in my Action Figures.

Websites:

www.theautographdog.com

www.juliedolan.com

www.juliedolanvo.com

  Twitter: @justcallmeleia

Facebook: www.facebook.com/juliedolanvo

Instagram: juliemdolan

  #gallery-0-4 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-4 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

10 Questions with the voice actress of #PrincessLeia, Ms. Julie Dolan #StarWars @JustCallMeLeia Julie Dolan is an actress whose career has been quite expansive, spanning film, television, commercials, theater, voice-overs, music, and more. 

[sheilacwall]

hip hop isn’t dead.: Ice Cube

Somehow War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) is only the sixth solo album from rapper-slash-actor-slash-professional basketball league founder O’Shea “Ice Cube” Jackson. It feels like we’ve been discussing this motherfucker forever, or at least since 2007, right? Obviously the man has been doing a lot since his entrance into our chosen genre via N.W.A.: aside from his whole actor/writer/director side gig, he’s released compilations, been a part of multiple soundtrack releases, and even found time to create an entirely separate group, Westside Connection (alongside his protégée Mack 10 and his friend WC). But the man hasn’t ever truly stepped away from his solo career, which is part of the reason we’re talking about today’s subject.

War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Album) is the second half of a project that Cube conceived way back in the previous century (read: 1998). War & Peace, curiously named after the soft drink and not the Tolstoy doorstop, served as our host’s excuse to deliver the gangsta rap and social commentary he was best known for post-Jerry Heller, along with some attempts to construct a much broader audience through radio airplay, club bangers, cautionary tales, and skinny-dipping in the waters of different musical genres. Although for some reason I’m remembering this being announced as a double-disc effort, Ice Cube released the first volume, subtitled The War Disc, close to the Thanksgiving holiday in 1998, with The Peace Disc scheduled to follow soon after, as they were recorded and compiled at the same time.

The War Disc was met with mixed reviews, as Cube rested on his laurels a bit too much: there’s one song that is a direct sequel to one of his classic tracks, “Once Upon a Time In The Projects 2”; he leaned heavily on a younger artist signed to his label, Mr. Short Khop (who, interestingly enough, doesn’t appear on The Peace Disc at all); there’s a collaboration with motherfucking Korn called “Fuck Dying”. (Cube also appeared on Korn’s 1998 album Follow the Leader: both songs helped cue up the inaugural Family Values tour, which they were both headliners on.) But aside from a couple of tracks that played into his storytelling skills, The War Disc quietly vanished from rotation, leaving our host to retool the planned follow-up in an effort to course-correct.

War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc), the final album released under Cube’s deal with Priority Records, is definitely not what was already completed when The War Disc was released. For one, the very first track, “Hello”, is a collaboration with former N.W.A. bandmates MC Ren and Dr. Dre, a move which wouldn’t have happened in 1998, but made more sense in 2000 after N.W.A. officially reunited for a song off of the soundtrack for Cube’s Next Friday (and also after Dre released 2001, a blockbuster project that put him back on the map). In addition, the first single, “You Can Do It”, came from that same soundtrack and was Cube’s most popular radio hit since 1997’s “We Be Clubbin’”. So I get why he’d want to retool the project to capitalize on those strengths.

The Peace Disc vanished seemingly quicker than its predecessor, possibly due to the chart dominance of his friend Dr. Dre and Dre’s artist Eminem at the time. It did manage to sell over five hundred thousand units in the United States, but find me somebody who proudly has this one displayed in their collection. I dare you. I double dog dare you, motherfucker. Nobody gives a fuck about War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc), and I include Ice Cube in that description. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the album is entirely bad, so let’s peek under the hood and review this sucker.

1. HELLO (FEAT. DR. DRE & MC REN)

O’Shea hits the ground running, commissioning an N.W.A. reunion that is much more successful than their official comeback on the Next Friday soundtrack (“Chin Check”, for those of you keeping score). A simplistic Dr. Dre. prescription, which bangs, lays the groundwork for Dre, MC Ren, and our host Ice Cube to… complain about the current (as of 2000, anyway) state of hip hop like the elder statesmen they are: they have a specific grievance regarding not being credited for “start[ing] this gangsta shit” (which absolutely isn’t true, but regardless of who you think kicked off the sub-genre, the various members of N.W.A. are cited as influences all. The. Goddamn. Time. Maybe not Yella). As far as old dudes talking shit as though evolution in language and culture hadn’t ever occurred, Ren comes across as alright (his comment about lesbians not exactly homophobic but still iffy nevertheless), while Andre sticks with his “I’m rich, I don’t have to do shit” mentality. Thankfully, O’Shea tears through his verse with a ferocity he hasn’t displayed since Westside Connection’s Bow Down, and I say that even though the phase of his career where he insisted on nicknaming himself the “Don Dada” is still represented on here. So yeah, this was a success overall. Thank God, right? I mean, can you imagine two subpar late-period N.W.A. reunion tracks in a row?

2. PIMP HOMEO (SKIT)

I know Cube’s trying to be funny here, but this was bad. At least it wasn’t homophobic, though, as the title may have implied. Absolutely misogynistic, though.

3. YOU AIN’T GOTTA LIE (TA KICK IT) (FEAT. CHRIS ROCK)

Fairly confusing, as “You Ain’t Gotta Lie (Ta Kick It”) isn’t really the love rap sort-of promised by the preceding skit. O’Shea spits his boasts-n-bullshit, which, interestingly enough, include proclamations of being a great father, while guest Chris Rock threatens to undermine the entire operation with his contributions to the hook. The concept isn’t set up well enough for this three-man production (this was credited to former Bad Boy Hitman Chucky Thompson along with Rich Nice and Loren Hill) to make any fucking sense, as Cube isn’t really hitting on anyone as much as he’s offering up facts about himself as though he recorded his bars while standing behind a podium, while Rock tries to come up with the most ridiculous lies during the hook. Dude is kind of amusing toward the end, but overall this shit was a misfire. It was good while it lasted, though.

4. THE GUTTER SHIT (FEAT. JAYO FELONY, GANGSTA, & SQUEAK RU)

LOL there’s a rapper named Gangsta? Have we officially used up all of the words? Anywhoozle, our host envisioned “The Gutter Shit” as a collaboration with like-minded West Coast artists, but could only convince Jayo Felony and two other no-names to commit, and my Lord does this Cube- and T-Bone-produced aural interpretation of a sad face emoji suuuuuuuuuck. The two artists on here that you’ve never heard of before or since seem excited enough for the opportunity but flounder when called upon, while Jayo is terrible as always. But the true loser here is our host, who somehow found the time to contribute two awful verses that wouldn’t even be stocked in the same type of store as the gutter shit he was once capable of. And what the fuck is with that reference to the previous track?

5. SUPREME HUSTLE

There is no planet within our galaxy where Ice Cube could have honestly believed that “Supreme Hustle” was a song good enough to make War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc). My guess is that the production trio from “You Ain’t Gotta Lie (Ta Kick It)” had called in a collective Make-A-Wish, as this elementary excursion into simplistic rap boasting is embarrassing as shit to listen to. At least our host sticks with his theme: each of the three verses places emphasis on “I”, “you”, and “we”, respectively. But there is no hustle to be found on here, and O’Shea’s hand-waving about what he considers to be the cause of domestic violence was puzzling as hell. I cannot stress enough how fucking godawful this shit was.

6. MENTAL WARFARE (SKIT)

…

7. 24 MO’ HOURS

When critics mention older rappers struggling to sound relevant with their newer songs, “24 Mo’ Hours” is what they’re referring to. If War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) were released today, the Battlecat instrumental, which both sucks and doesn’t fit our host’s general aesthetic, which is a strange critique given Battlecat’s history of producing Cali-based bangers, would almost certainly be swapped out for something from the likes of Metro Boomin’ or Zaytoven, and it would still sound terrible. Ugh.

8. UNTIL WE RICH (FEAT. KRAYZIE BONE)

I heard “Until We Rich” on the radio once probably in 2000 or so, and then have apparently never thought of it again until right now, which I believe is an accurate representation of how forgettable this Chucky & the Thompsons production was. Guest star Krayzie Bone, still riding a Bone Thugs-N-Harmony career wave at the time, circles and underlines Slick Rick’s “Hey Young World” with his performance, which is dull, while O’Shea tries his darnedest to give listeners an optimistic, motivational speech, even going so far as to censor his own cursing, so as to reach as wide an audience as possible. Sure, “Until We Rich” fits the ‘peace’ requirement of this project, but at what cost?

9. YOU CAN DO IT (FEAT. MACK 10 & MS. TOI)

You two already know this song, which first appeared on the soundtrack for Next Friday in 1999 but was popular enough to justify Priority Records placing it on as many projects as possible, I suppose. For the handful of readers who somehow missed this footnote in popular culture, “You Can Do It”, a spiritual follow-up to “We Be Clubbin’”, the hit single from our host’s directorial debut The Players Club, finds Cube, Ms. Toi, and his boy Mack 10 putting their asses into a One Eye-produced club effort that is slight on lyrics, but is rather catchy otherwise. It sounds so fucking absurd today that it somehow shifts from “corny” to “entertainingly corny” during Cube’s opening verse and never once budges again. At least our host sounded engaged on here, unlike most everything else on War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) thus far, and having Mack 1-0 perform over a fast-paced beat forces him to match that energy or die trying. Inessential, but it brings the pretty girls at the club out onto the floor, in case that helps you in any way.

10. MACKIN’ & DRIVING (SKIT)

Playing War & Peace Vol. 1 (The War Disc)’s first single, “Pushin’ Weight”, in the background of this interlude only reminded me of rapper Mr. Short Khop, whose career was abruptly halted after Cube stopped giving a shit about his young charge. I mean, why else would he not have been a good enough performer to make it to the second volume? Good call by the way, O’Shea.

11. GOTTA BE INSANITY

Curious, but not entirely out of left field when you remember “You Can Do It” was a hit, so why wouldn’t O’Shea go back to that well? The funky-ish guitar loop on this Mario Winans (!) production reminded me of Jermaine Dupri’s “Going Home With Me”, except I like that song and found this one to be middling at best, as Cube panders to the lowest common denominator while trying to get back inside the club. I can’t be sure who our host thought his audience was when he recorded “Gotta Be Insanity”, but he’s done enough good work and has earned the ability to record and release whatever he wants. Still doesn’t mean we’re all required to listen to any of it, however.

12. ROLL ALL DAY

As we all know and agree with every third Wednesday at our meetings, the best storytelling raps are the ones where you don’t realize the artist is even telling a story until the third verse. That’s what happens on “Roll All Day”, anyway. Over a One Eye beat that doesn’t entirely gel but has its moments, Ice Cube boasts about having purchased a full tank of gas (a fact repeated throughout, with a humorous callback toward the end) and offering to cruise around with a woman he just met in exchange for sexual intercourse. You know, standard-issue rap-type shit, but it begs the question: why is she so interested in the car? Has the woman in question never been inside an automobile before? Cube could have probably rolled up on a pedal bike and worked out a similar proposition just because he’s Ice Cube, but I suppose there’s no vehicle for a story there (pun intended). Regardless, he never gets that far, as by the third verse she’s [SPOILER ALERT FOR A NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD SONG] broken the car’s windows and, later, stolen it outright. His flow is strictly boasts-n-bullshit until the ending, where he reveals some of that sense of humor he tapped into while writing Friday. “Roll All Day” is meh, but the effort was appreciated, at least.

13. CAN YOU BOUNCE?

This was fucking terrible, and that’s without O’Shea making a Pokemon reference, which he absolutely does on here. So that happened. (Also, Younglord apparently produced the beat. Was War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) designed as Ice Cube’s covert demo reel to hopefully snag a label deal with Bad Boy Records? Because the gambit hasn’t paid off yet.)

14. DINNER WITH THE CEO (SKIT)

…

15. RECORD COMPANY PIMPIN’

The flip side of EPMD’s “Please Listen To My Demo”, down to the same Faze-O “Riding High” sample being used, as Ice Cube and producer Bud’da urge the youth not to get involved in the rap game without learning the business side of the industry first. Advice such as this can only come from someone who was famously jerked around by their label in the past, as Cube was during his short stint with Ruthless Records, but while the man clearly knows of what he speaks, that doesn’t mean “Record Company Pimpin’” (a topic many artists have tackled before and since O’Shea put pen to paper) is an entertaining song to actually listen to. Our host should have taken these ideas and given a TED Talk instead. That’s not a joke: imagine how many people he could help in the process. But you can skip this track outright.

16. WAITIN’ TA HATE

So it turns out that War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) is a stealth EPMD tribute album filtered through a Puff Daddy lens. That’s a lie, obviously, but “Waitin’ Ta Hate” is the second song in a row to pay homage to Erick and Parish specifically, although this time around producers One Eye and DJ Joe Rodriguez (that name gets to the point, can’t be mad at that) get lazy by choosing to just sample “So Wat Cha Sayin’” directly. For his part, O’Shea sounds downright angry on here, which informs an entertaining performance that isn’t reminiscent of his finest work, but let’s be real, it’s the best we’ll get at this point. The production doesn’t do much to differentiate itself from the EPMD standard, but maybe, this time around, it isn’t such a bad thing. (Side note to E-Double: you should give Cube a shout for a future collaboration, as the man is clearly a fan.)

17. N—A OF THE CENTURY

Accompanied by someone that could be that Pain In Da Ass dude whose entire shtick was aping flicks such as Scarface and Goodfellas to open up early Roc-A-Fella Records projects but likely isn’t, which means there were two of these guys in our chosen genre at some point, which seems wasteful somehow, our host caps off the evening lobbying for an award that doesn’t exist. Charley Chap’s production is too dull to properly reward Ice Cube as a winner of any competition, and O’Shea’s own bars aren’t worth wasting a paragraph on. At least we’re done here.

FINAL THOUGHTS: War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) approaches self-parody at points, as Ice Cube genuinely seems to not understand just what it was about his work that listeners connected with back in the early 1990s. It certainly wasn’t this shit: nobody ever wanted to hear what it would have sounded like had Cube signed with Bad Boy Records twelve years after his prime. The O’Shea Jackson found on this project is a man who is content with his station in life: the only time he ever really comes across as passionate about anything is when he’s schooling younger artists on the inner workings of the music industry, a topic that obviously resonates with him. Even his generic threats on “Hello”, a song I fucking liked his performance on, sound more like amiable suggestions than anything. When Cube gets in his storytelling bag, he seems to at least be having some fun with this shit (not that it always translates for the listener), but when he’s simply talking shit, the momentum on War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc), or whatever little momentum exists, halts immediately. Twenty years removed from his debut solo project, this album proved that Ice Cube was no longer vital to the ongoing health of the local hip hop concern. He has all of his other ventures to fall back on, and of course he’ll always be welcomed at the barbecues, but unless he’s laser-focused on targets (we’ll always have the first Westside Connection effort), he loses the plot very quickly, and one can only coast on charm and the acclaim derived from your prior work for so long.  I won’t go so far as to say that War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc) is a “peace” of shit, because that pun is beneath me, but it’s plenty awful.

BUY OR BURN? Neither. If you absolutely must, stream the tracks listed below, but, you know, life is short.

BEST TRACKS: “Hello”; “Waitin’ Ta Hate”

-Max

RELATED POSTS:

            Source link

The post hip hop isn’t dead.: Ice Cube appeared first on Hip Hop World Music.

from Hip Hop World Music https://hiphopworldmusic.com/hip-hop-isnt-dead-ice-cube/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hip-hop-isnt-dead-ice-cube from Hip Hop World Music https://hiphopworldmusic.tumblr.com/post/187536375798