"I'm Afraid of Not Being Able to Laugh Anymore"

It's a sad and sobering fact that Robin Williams passed away about a year ago. Last August 11th the world lost a source of laughter that it will never be able to fully replace and that's a tough thing to wrap your mind away. In an attempt to "laugh the pain away" here comes Cee Lo with a tribute to Robin Williams and a few other notable actors/comedians (Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Belushi, Phil Hartman) who have passed away. If you've got an appetite for the heartfelt, press play below...

Better yet, please go to this link and watch the rapid Google search aided interactive video via Cee Lo's website:

Interactive Video
Pro tip: if you get bored watching, then switch between the Web, Images, Shopping and Videos in the top right as the video is playing. I'm struggling a bit to understand the benefit of the rapid Google searches other than to show off a unique way to create an interactive video. Maybe there's a bigger message that's being delivered, but it's lost on me. Whatever the case, it's nice to hear a new Cee Lo single and it never hurts to reminisce over impactful people who have touched the lives of millions of people before it was their time...#RobinWilliams

"My Very First White Girl, White Girl"

When I first heard news that Goodie Mob was coming back together for a reunion I was a notch above excited. Now I'm starting to wonder if they've become Cee Lo Green and the other guys the way their sound has morphed into pop sing-alongs like their newest track White Girl. I get it, you've gotta craft a radio friendly hits to move units, but this is a far cry from their old stuff.

Below is their recently performance on Conan where they made it very clear what the most popular name for a white girl is...

Their latest album Age Against the Machine has gotten lukewarm reviews from the likes of Pitchfork and Vibe for it's funk filled, but not-so-Goodie-Mob-sounding style. If you like Cee Lo's style, you'll enjoy this one, but I'm still getting used to this new version of a group I used to love. Man what I wouldn't give for another classic like Black Ice...#AgeAgainstTheMachine

Goodie Mob - Amy

Videos of the Week May 24th

Decent mix of funny, entertaining and inspirational this week with The Lonely Island setting the humor bar high this week with Diaper Money. On the flip side, I got goosebumps watching third grader Asean Johnson of Chicago blast Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel for threatening to close his school. The little dude might just be the rose that grew from concrete in a city that has become synonymous with Irag.

Sandwiched in between are some entertaining videos from a few usual suspects like Fat Joe, T.I. and Maroon 5. Although it was tempting to post all clips of Kanye's new videos being projected onto walls, I'm going to refrain from that business. Enjoy your long weekend y'all, see some of you at the Indy 500...#MemorialDay

The Lonely Island - Diaper Money (Video)

Fat Joe feat Wiz Khalifa & Teyana Taylor - Ballin' (Video)

T.I. feat Cee-lo - Hello (Video)

Maroon 5 - Love Somebody (Video)

Third Grader Asean Johnson Argues for Chicago Mayor to Not Close His School

Videos of the Week May 10th

Run of the mill offering this week with a lot of Hip Hop and R&B. Evidently Lana Del Rey has become the icon for The Great Gatsby, which is fitting given her throwback style. Oh and this just in, Mariah Carey is still smokin' hot. Also, is it just me or are lyric videos now the new thing? I don't mean only lyrics as the video, I meant interaction style lyrics embedded into real videos like on T.I.'s Hello? Maybe it's the interaction designer in me, but I appreciate it...#UXMakesTheWorldGoRound

Mariah Carey feat Miguel - #Beautiful (Video)

T.I. feat Cee-Lo - Hello (Video)

Lana Del Rey - Young and Beautiful (Video)

DJ Felli Fel feat Ne-Yo, Tyga, Wiz Khalifa - Reason to Hate (BTS)

The Wanted - Walks Like Rihanna (Video)

Videos of the Week March 1st

First off, the whole Harlem Shake revolution has officially jumped the shark. Near the end here, we've seen some fun ones like the Miami Heat one below, but nobody can top the YouTube Easter Egg Harlem Shake. Copycat dance crazy aside, the video below by @KeeganMKey and @JordanPeele of @KeyAndPeele wins for this week's most entertaining video. When it comes to fresstyling outlandish ideas, it doesn't get any better chemistry wise than the Comedy Central duo. For all the Hip Hop heads who were salivating over the many behind the scenes shots, the video finally arrives this week. The track is literally at the basement floor of what I'm able to tolerate when it comes to dumbed down, flashy, ignorant trap muzik, but between this and Ice Cream Paint Job I simply can't turn it off when it comes on...#TrapMuzik

Key & Peele: Ballbusters (Dunk Contest) (Video)

Harlem Shake - Miami Heat Edition (Video)

Trinidad James feat T.I. Young Jeezy & 2 Chainz - All Gold Everything (Remix)(Video)

Cee-Lo Green feat Lauriana Mae - Only You (Video)

Asher Roth - Turnip the Beet (Video)

"Only You Can Stop the Bleeding"

To give a little perspective, about a year ago I was posting at least two R&B tracks a week. For some reason 2012 had an alarming low amount of quality R&B music. Maybe it was the trend toward electronic music that upped the ante or the ubiquity of Hip Hop in contemporary music. Whatever the cause, noteworthy R&B has become an endangered species lately.

The good news is, @CeeLoGreen - The Soul Machine isn't going away any time soon, which means there's always hope for R&B. Today he released a new lead single off his upcoming yet to be titled album. The track features the beautiful singer/songwriter @laurianamae and is on an upbeat sittin' on the dock of the bay type grown and sexy tip. It's a catchy, radio friendly ballad that sounds like it's produced by @BrunoMars' production team The Smeezingtons. Can't confirm that, but either way I have complete faith that Top 40 radio will promptly chew this up and spit it out faster than Usain Bolt on one of those airport moving walkways...#OnlyYou

Cee-Lo Green feat Lauriana Mae – Only You

VIdeos of the Week December 7th

I've always been a huge fan of any sort of high level musical interaction choreography with Hip Hop or electronic music. Maybe it's a soft spot of mine, maybe it's because it's so rarely done well. Either way, the Dubstep Christmas light display video sets the bar extremely high for that specific genre. When you watch, make sure and fast forward a minute or so to the Skrillex part because that's when it gets taken to another level.

In other videos, the one minute BTS video of @SkylarGrey's new video with @Eminem is about as entertaining as it could be in sixty seconds. Yes, the authentic trailer trash in the video does the most winning, but hearing Eminem jokingly get defensive about growing up in a trailer park is pretty entertaining too. Growing up in a trailer park is just about as sad as paying $1 million for an erased hard drive that doesn't have your music on it. I did a post about a year ago on the story and it couldn't have come to a worse end for @ryanleslie. It's a double edged sword when you do your best to not back up your music in multiple places to avoid leaks, but when it's left on one hard drive and that gets stolen, it's even more heartbreaking.

On a lighter note, how bout some Christmas music to get in the holiday spirit? #HellYea

Dubstep Christmas Lights

Skylar Grey ft. Eminem – Cmon Let Me Ride (Behind The Scenes)

R Les Breaks Down on Stage After Being Sued for $1 Million

Karmin & Coach - Sleight Ride (Video)

Cee-Lo feat Christina Aguilera - Baby It's Cold Outside (Video)

Videos of the Week June 22nd

Whole lot of Hip Hop this week with some of my favorite rappers on set for videos and trailers. As a casual observer, it sounds like the Detox talk is heating up in the Hip Hop community with seemingly everyone from 50 cent to @kendricklamar (below) commenting on the mythical album. Feel free to fast forward to the 3:20 mark on the @justinbieber video to hear him getting after a few classics from Pac and Biggie. Everyone hates on Biebs rapping, but dude can handle his own. I mean he's not gonna battle rap @eminem anytime soon, but for a kid from the burbs, he isn't bad.

Anybody interested in seeing Wiz and Snoops new movie? (crickets?) We'll see, but I'll always favor them on the mic. Catch me at the @DonaldGlover show tonight in Philly if you're in attendance...#HollerAtchaBoy

Slaughterhouse feat Cee-Lo - My Life (Video)

Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa – Mac & Devin Go To High School (Trailer)

Justin Bieber Rapping 2pac and Biggie on the Angie Martinez Show

Donnis - Hello Kitty (Video)

Kendrick Lamar speaks on Detox and his debut album

Goodie Mob is Back With Southern Soul

Ecstatic is a good word to describe my initial reaction when I heard Goodie Mob was coming out with a comeback album. I use the phrase comeback album because it's been since 2005 (7 years!) since they last released an album. To be fair though, I was guilty of tuning their last album, One Monkey Don't Stop No Show, completely out. Keepin' it 100, it was because that album just wasn't good at all...at least compared to their first two albums, which were really solid.

A lot has changed since the group first got together around 1995. For starters, @ceelogreen is now a universal pop icon, which wasn't the case when the group first started releasing music. It will be interesting to see how that changes their music because on first glance, the first two songs that have surfaced off their upcoming album Age Against the Machine are heavy on the vocals and light on the verses. Speaking of which, they just performed their lead single titled Fight to Win on NBC's The Voice this week (below)...

Julius Ceasar and his band of glowing grilled trojan fighters? That's what came to mind when watching that video. Very inspirational and radio friendly, which is a 180 from the music they used to create. Not hating one bit, just stating the facts and noticing the change in style.

If I had to pick I'd choose their other new song Is That You God? over their lead single. I'd choose it because the amount of soul they're able to pack into one track is incredible. Sure Cee-Lo's vocals really help, but the general mood of the track reminds me exactly why I'm such a big fan of Goodie Mob. They always manage to hammer home a positive, spiritual message through their verses while imparting soul on the hook. If you haven't heard of Goodie Mob and only enjoy Cee-Lo's music, then this is the perfect track to introduce you to their sound. Southern soul with a Hip Hop twist has never sounded so right...#GoodieMobbIsBack

Goodie Mob - Is That You God?

"Jets Fly Private, S5 Hybrid, Baby Test Drive My Whip"

A couple weeks ago @SLAUGHTERHOUSE debuted their newest single My Life to mixed reviews. After listening to it for a few weeks, it's become clearer to me that the group as a whole just isn't meant for the radio. The unfortunate consequence of not always translating to radio is that it usually affects the bottom line of record sales, but I want make sure and clarify my opinion that not being meant for top 40 radio isn't a slight at all to their overall talent. In fact, I probably have more respect for their music because it has the depth that generally repeatable, bubble gum pop tracks will always lack.

The main beef I have with Slaughterhouse's choice of singles is that their verses aren't as substantial. I say that because they're known for witty, sometimes edgy lyrics and that gets lost when shooting for middle of the road content meant for the radio. Using the song below as an example, it was tough finding a witty quoteable for the title of the post, which is rare for any of their songs. Still, having @ceelogreen on the track gives it a fighting chance for top 40 success. Radio worthiness aside, they are releasing a video for My Life in the coming weeks and earlier this week @joebudden gave a behind a behind the scenes interview with MTV to describe the video concept...

Their new album, Welcome to: Our House is due out in about three weeks on June 12th. Unlike most albums I'll be immediately sifting through the non-singles to find my favorite track. Can't wait to hear the end product and influence that their new record company will have on their overall sound...#ShadyRecords

Slaughterhouse feat Cee-Lo - My Life (prod by StreetRunner and Sarom)
|iTunes

Madonna and LMFAO Party Rock the Super Bowl

Going into last night's Super Bowl, I had very low expectations for the event and game as a whole. So I did what any other American would do and gamble to make it interesting. I had posted a couple times this past week how much I really wished both teams could lose because Giants rank up there with world's most annoying fan base and The Pats...let's just say they're always favored so what's the point of cheering for them unless you're from Boston? Needless to say I was mostly paying attention to watch the entertaining, buzz-generating commercials while simultaneously following up on the mostly random single dollar wagers I had made on various *mostly random* events like who wins the coin toss, who gets the first sack, how many field goals total, how many beer commercials, etc. Despite not winning one random bet the whole night (hard to do) and witnessing an extremely boring game (serious lack of exciting plays), I'd say the halftime show was a big bright spot.

Put it this way, when you follow the Black Eyed Peas from last year, it can be nothing but better. Still, Madonna wasn't all that enticing of a draw to me and I figured it would be mostly oldies that would keep the 30 and older crowd happy and give women a decent reason to pay attention while all the men completely disregarded the show. Before I comment, if you haven't watched the twelve minute and change halftime show, please feel free to press play below. I waded through countless terrible quality videos to find the decent one below, so feel free to appreciate if you'd like...

Yep, I didn't see all those cameos coming out of left field and I sure as hell didn't think she'd mix in much more than the oldies. I couldn't have been more wrong as @nickyminaj, @_m_i_a_, @ceelogreen and @lmfao joined her on stage for what ended up being a really solid, high energy halftime show. I'm not one to give effusive praise to a performance that I didn't think was going to be good from the start, but this would be the exception to the rule.

Even better, a remix of Madonna's lead single off her new album MDNA (due out March 26th) seemed to have surfaced in the past day, piggy backing the hype surrounding their performance last night. Hey might as well get it while the gettin' is good right? To be honest, I'm not a big fan of the middle school cheerleader anthem sounding original version of Give Me All Your Lovin', but I won't hesitate to rock out to the remix. Don't be shy with it shake your junk to it like the naked M&M last night...#BestCommercial

Madonna feat LMFAO - Give Me All Your Lovin (Remix)
|iTunes

Think Twice Moment: "A Parent-ly I'm an Unfit Father"

It's a new day, which means there's probably a new Hip Hop artist you haven't heard of that has released a relevant song that you should now know about. I say you should know about because @mrdontrip is immediately noteworthy because of his cosign from the legendary production duo @COOLANDDRE. With the help of Cool and Dre, the Memphis native signed onto First Family Records/Epidemic Music/Interscope Records with the help of his powerful track below. In case Cool and Dre's cosign isn't enough, the Good Doctor (Dre) went out of his way to mention Don Trip in the same sentence as @JColeNC as far as new artists who he is a fan of. I decided to post a song he wrote before becoming noteworthy called Letter to My Son and for added listen-ability, I chose the remix, which features @ceelogreen on the hook.

Before I get into the particulars of the track, it'd be worthwhile for you to see Don Trip in studio recording the track. I'll always have respect for someone who can go into a studio and knock out an emotional track the way he did below...

Man you want to talk about a raw track. Just listening to it will make any man or woman think twice about the potential collateral damage that having a child could cause. It's sad that nowadays with baby mamas and divorces becoming so frequent that it's common for kids to be used as pawns in disagreements or litigation. This is as real as it gets in depicting the potential pitfalls that go along with the responsibility of parenthood, so anybody who is thinking about being careless about who they hook up with, give the track below a listen...#UseProtectionYall

Don Trip feat Cee-Lo - Letter to My Son (Remix)

|iTunes

Videos of the Week

Bunch of great new concert videos have been surfacing from summer tours of late like Kanye/Cudi and Linkin Park covering @officialadele's Rolling in the Deep. Kinda creeped out by the Skylar Grey video, but still love the track and her new one Invisible. @araabmuzik is an absolute beast on the MPC. If I were to learn a skill it would be the ability to manipulate samples like he does. Plenty more to follow, indulge below folks, lots of good stuff...
@kanyewest & @wizardcud Perform All of the Lights (Live in Milwaukee)

@skylargrey - Dance Without You (Video)

@CeeLoGreen feat @RealWizKhalifa - Bright Lights Bigger City (Remix) (Video)

@araabmuzik destroys the MPC (Live)

@thegame feat @JTIMBERLAKE & Pharrell - Ain't No Doubt About It (Video)

@linkinpark Performing Rolling in the Deep(Live)

Cochella Day 1 Highlights

First day of Coachella 2011 was relatively eventful with the likes of Lauryn Hill, Cee-Lo Green and Flogging Molly hitting the stages. Below are a few videos from Day 1, check 'em out...

Lauryn Hill 2011 Coachella

Cee-Lo 2011 Coachella

Flogging Molly - 7 Deadly Sins (2011 Coachella)

Cold War Kids 2011 Coachella

Hip Hop Grammy Performances

Really doe, Esparanza (@espespalding)??? C'MON MAN (Keyshawn Johnson voice)!! #TheGrammysHateHipHop. Need some evidence that Grammy voters are a little long in the tooth? Welp, you could say there was a whole crime scene's worth last night. The fact everyone had to Google who beat out Drake and Biebs for best new artist is a joke. I get it, I get it it's funny a BASSist conquered all Hip Hop acts...ha ha mo h r f c in HA! Still was an entertaining night though, check the videos below...

Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Florence Welch, Martina McBride & Yolanda Adams - Aretha Franklin Tribute

Bruno Mars, B.o.B & Janelle Monae - Nothin On You/Grenade/Cold War

Lady Gaga - Born This Way

Justin Bieber & Usher - Never Say Never/OMG

Cee-Lo Green - Forget You (w/ Gwyneth Paltrow)

Eminem, Dr. Dre, Rihanna & Skylar Grey - Medley

Rihanna & Drake - What's My Name

"Yes I need it, Everybody Does, Cocktails and Conversation, Music and Making Love"

Seems like a busy month for great albums to come up as tons of artists hit that fourth quarter release. While you're clamoring over Rihanna, Kid Cudi, Kanye, Twista and Pitbull (just to name a few), don't let the Soul Machine slip through the cracks. Granted he's made his album pretty damn difficult to neglect with hisForget You! anthem that is ungracefully landing on radio stations prompting everyone to still use the middle finger despite the FCC doing their absolute best to water down the brazenly unapologetic expression of scorn through song. Never has such a vulgar song pulled so many people together in rejoice, it's really pretty cool when you take a second to really think about how ironic it is that such an angry track has become an emotional outlet for so many people. #My2Pennies

Anyways, aside from that track, there's more greatness on the album and lucky for us, the greatness comes in different flavors. The flavor below is my current favorite, mostly because it's twice dipped in funk and has those classic 1970's strings in the background. Know what I'm talkin' about? Think Chips style strings + funk...

Gotta love Ponch, Erik Estrada was the man back in the day. Speaking of back in the day, doesn't the bassline of this track remind you a little bit of MJ's Thriller (80 millions views by the way, THAT is epic)? That was my first thought when listening to the rolling bassline of the track, but Cee-Lo's high pitched, soulful vocals bode well on the instrumental. I've been on Cee-Lo's bandwagon cross country, Oregon Trail style since his Goodie Mob days and I still maintain to this day his verse/monologue on Beautiful Skin was one of the more thoughtful, well-crafted and under-appreciated verses on Hip Hop history.#StillStandingIsClassic

I digress, this track makes me wanna go to the disco...bars and clubs are played out, this is a perfect vehicle for time travel back to the sound which had hippies dancing uncontrollably...check the song and video below...

Cee-Lo Green - Bright Lights, Bigger City

|Cop It

How in the Hell is this Going to Make it on the Radio?

It's been a while, maybe since Buckcherry's Crazy Bitch, that I've heard a track so perfectly crafted for contemporary radio consumption, but be waaay too vulgar lyrically to meet "radio standards". First off, Cee-Lo Green is in fact The Soul Machine and if you weren't a fan of his work prior to his headfirst dive into contemporary music with Gnarles Barkley, you missed out on some great southern Hip Hop he did with the Goodie Mob. Most notably this classic album that didn't get near the credit it should have, both sales and respect wise from Hip Hop fans.

The premise for the song below has to do with Cee-Lo playing the role of spurned lover who was left for another man with more money. It's an unenviable position and you could understand why there would be anger associated with getting the short end of the stick. The fact that the song is so well executed, layering the soul on so heavy that it's impossible not to chuckle a little bit when the backup singers bring the church-style harmony in singing "Oh she's a gooold digga, just thought you should know n***a". Put it this way, you know your song has been an internet sensation when CNN takes the time to comment about your expletive laden track. Check out the video below:

When asked about why the expletive laden track, Cee-Lo backed up his creation saying:

"What I've tried to accomplish, like, is making art products ... so I still believe that (the song) can be classified as art because it's an original piece and the edge and alternative is there, and the integrity is intact" - Cee-Lo (AP)

What's unfortunate is that it's become so popular that a "Forget You!" clean version will soon be floating across the radio waves, in essence stripping the "artistic expressionism" on the track. What I absolutely love about the track is that is was written by Bruno Mars and produced by his production group The Smeezingtons, marrying their catchy, uplifting sound with one of the south's most uniquely soulful voices. My guess is the song will probably end up being the lead single off his upcoming album, The Lady Killa due out in December as it is now skyrocketing sales wise.

My advice on the song below is to keep an open mind about the song, don't let the strong language dissuade you from seeing the humor and intention of the song. Everybody has gotten the urge to tell someone eff off at some point and the fact that @theladykilla was able to spin the negativity into a soulful sing along is creative and he should be given credit for his "artistry." There's good reason why 5 million people made this an internet sensation the past month, so allow yourself to laugh a little bit and enjoy the talents of one of the more eccentric cats to come out of the ATL...

Cee-Lo - Fuck You!
| Download