Forgot About Friday/Iggy Azalea

Posted on April 6, 2018 by Patrick DeMarco

When it comes to the once thriving music career (just in case you forgot) of one Ms. I-G-G-Y Azalea……where, oh, where the f@ck do we begin?

“Fancy?”

Ariana?

That pesky lil’ social media feud with Brit Brit? #youwantapieceofme

Rita Ora? Who?

Now, first things first, this isn’t to say that J.Lo’s “Booty” bestie isn’t still doing her music thing (play last year’s “Switch,” like now), but the days when Ziggy Iggs ruled the music earth have now been seemingly swept waaaaay back into the latter portion of our 2014/most-of-2015 minds.

So, let’s bring them back, shall we?

Yaaas, “Pretty Girls” kween.

Born and raised in Australia as Amethyst Amelia Kelly, Mizz Azalea migrated to the U.S. at the young age of sixteen. The “Mo Bounce” beauty headed straight for Miami to pursue her dreams of spittin’ her, um, one-of-a-kind rhymes in the studio…..but it certainly wasn’t easy along the way. When she first arrived on the scene in the early 2010s, Igs was met with loads of criticism, mostly towards her ability to truly be taken seriously as a rap artist.

However things all changed when a trap-tastic mixtape called Ignorant Art hit headphones across the country and its lead single, “Pu$$y” quickly blew up on YouTube and was quite simply…in ya f$$king face. While gettin’ her groove on in the music scene, the future “Black Widow” temptress also put her feisty stilettos on the runway and in the spring of 2012, she was signed to Wilhelmina Models International and pursued modeling full-time. It was there that she landed a job as the “New Face of Levi’s Jeans.” Yes, it’s true.

Oh, and did we mention she just began dating A$AP Rocky during this time? There’s that whole thing.

Oh, and hey, T.I…..you know.

Later that year, the name Iggy Azalea truly got some “who dat” recognition when XXL Magazine put her on the cover of its annual Top Ten Freshman issue right next to Roscoe Dash and French Montana. As the first female, non-American rapper to make the list, serious hip-hop fans like Diplo took notice (and haters did as well, naturally) and soon lent his talents to Ariana’s “Problem” co-star and helped her out on the equally successful follow-up Iggy Mixtape, TrapGold.

Now, with two successful Mixtapes under her heels (and one kick-ass collabo, “Beat Down” with Steve Aoki), it was now time to serve out that single. And while her freshman record, Reclassified, err, The New Classic‘s first few singles, “Work,” “Change Ya Life” and “Bounce” served out moderate steam for the set, there was one track that plain and simple took it to the next level…..and it took over our fucking lives.

Yes…picture it…the spring of 2014.

A song called “Fancy” with its Clueless inspired video, krunk-a-fucking-licious beat, and killer hook provided by Ms. Charli XCX owned anything and everything around us…..and spent seven weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100. If that wasn’t enough (it truly wasn’t), Ms. name-in-bold was also co-starring with Ari on “Problem” right around the same time, which soon put that track at number two right behind “Fancy.” And if you throw in “Black Widow” (hey, Rita) a few months later, Azalea became the only female in Billboard chart history to have three singles in the top 10 at the same time. Like, that’s some fucking shit, gurl.

But then it wasn’t.

While Azalea kept the heat up in early 2015 by pairing up with J.Lo, Demi Lovato, Jennifer Hudson and MØ, too…..a little ditty named “Pretty Girls” with the legendary Ms. Britney Spears came along and well, you know. One part, make that, all parts a rehash of “Fancy,” the song and its Earth Girls Are Easy inspired video didn’t do any of the gals justice on the charts…or with each other. Maybe it was that thing that Iggy said about why the song didn’t fare better on the charts? Eek! While we won’t rehash the drama here, you can relive the “Pretty” mess for yourself right here.

Or wait, maybe it wasn”t such a great track to begin with? Yes, that’s it! Sigh…

Unfortunately, the rest of 2015 didn’t fare so well for Ms. Azalea as there was that canceled concert tour, eventually scrapped second album (which is now rumored to be called Surviving the Summer and is looking to finally be released later this year), loads of record label drama and of course, all of those other feuds.

Isn’t that right, Mizz Banks?

But whatever the music case may be, this isn’t a time to figure out just what the fuck happened or blame Cardi B, it’s a time to rejoice in–and never forget–the not-so-long ago music ride of Ms Iggy Azalea.

Because it truly was just so fucking “Fancy” wasn’t it?

May we never forget. Keep on, boo, keep on…..

Forgot About Friday/Donell Jones

Posted on October 20, 2017 by Patrick DeMarco

“U Know What’s Up”…..the dearly departed Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes.…..”Where I Wanna Be”…….baby makin’ crooner and one hell of a talent.

Yes, those are all of the music memories and moments that make up the career of one sleek and sophisticated R&B maestro and songwriter, Mr. Donell Jones, who in his late ’90s/early ’00s hey day…..simply had it goin’ on.

Born the son of a gospel singer, Jones grew up on the South Side of Chicago and threw himself in music at a young age to escape the streets that plagued his road to stardom during his younger years. Working hard to keep his passion afloat, Jones met former Heavy D & The Boys member “Eddie F” Ferrell along the way and together they formed a partnership with L.A. Reid and Babyface’s legendary label, LaFace.

Mr. Jones first hit it big in 1994 thanks to his penmanship on Usher‘s “Think of You,” which hit number eight on the Billboard R&B Charts. It was from there that Reid and Face gave him the green light to record his solo debut, which would end up being the stylish, soulful 1996 release, My Heart.

Although the album was a moderate success thanks to singles “In the Hood,” “You Should Know,” and Jones’ cover of the Stevie Wonder classic, “Knocks Me Off My Feet,” it was the singer’s songwriting and music production that caught the ears of everyone in the industry and beyond. This would lead Jones’ quickly becoming an established songwriter in the late ’90s, penning songs for 702, Drea, a few more for Usher and many, many more before releasing his smashing sophomore set, Where I Wanna Be, in 1999.

Of course, it was this album that truly put Jones on the music map, as it not only went platinum, but gave us bedroom ready smashes like the still woke title track, the thumping, “Shorty(Got Her Eyes On Me,” and of course, “U Know What’s Up,” which features that irresistible cameo from the one-and-only, Mizz Lopes.

Jones released a two successful follow ups–2002’s Life Goes On and 2006’s album chart topping, Life of a Gemini, but let’s face it, the careers of pretty much every late ’90s dominating hip hop and R&B artist seemingly became forgotten right around then and Jones’ later sets–Lyrics and Forever–failed to resonate with that mainstream audience (meaning…all of us) that he once owned.

But if there’s one thing that we do know, it’s that you actually had to have talent to make it happen like Mariah back then, and Donell Jones simply had it and then some.

And that’s something we should never, ever forget.

Plus, you know that you’re still trying to be Julia Stiles in that classic “U Know What’s Up” flavored Save the Last Dance montage. Yes, you.

Groove on, Mr.Jones, groove on.

Want more shit like this all of the time? Then follow Philly Mixtape right here and here, bish.

Forgot About Friday/Blu Cantrell

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Patrick DeMarco

“While he was scheming
I was beamin’ in the Beamer just beamin
Can’t believe that I caught my man cheatin'”

Those are the classic opening lyrics to “Hit ‘Em Up Style(Oops!),” the monstrous R&B laced revenge anthem by flame haired chanteuse, Ms. Blu Cantrell.

Throw in that luscious horn sample and that one-of-a-kind beat produced by legendary producer Dallas Austin, and well, it looked like our window shattering songstress was headed straight on a rise to the top of the charts forever, gurl.

Eh, not so quite. But it sure was fun while it lasted, wasn’t it?

Born in Providence as one of five siblings, Cantrell fell into the world of jazz performance at a young age, only later to be entranced by her watching her mother sing at local churches.

It wasn’t long before the “Oops” diva began recording demos, and eventually her powerful pipes caught the ears of C. Stewart…aka the one-and-only producer bad boy himself, Mr. Tricky Stewart.

While she was crafting studio for the werk that eventually went into her 2001 debut, So Blu, the singer sung along the road to stardom singing backup for a buffet of bona fide crooners including Gerald Levert, Faith Evans and Aaron Hall.

It wasn’t long before “Hit Em Up Style” didn’t just storm into our lives like a kiss off groove from the music heavens above, but it bulldozed its way to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 2001 (“Bootylicious” kept it from the top spot..twas a good summer) and earned the songstress two Grammy Award nomination including for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and and Best R&B Song, and she even nabbed an American Music Award nomination for Favorite Soul/R&B New Artist, all in 2002.

However….

Although Cantrell released a follow-up album, Bittersweet, in 2003 (and garnered another Grammy nod) and did give us another hit, “Breathe” co-starring Sean Paul, but the album quickly lost steam on the charts and would ultimately become her last studio set. And while we may never know just exactly what she’s up to these days, there’s two things we must take away from spilling music tea about the one-time career of Ms. Blu Cantrell…

Number one….the early ’00s were truly the last great era of pop music…and number two….”Hit Em Up Style” is still one hell of a track.

Go on, gurl.

Want more shit like this, like, all of the time? Then follow Philly Mixtape right here and here.

Blu Cantrell cover photo courtesy of You Tube.