Videos of the Week September 18th

If you're a fan of late night comedy and festival after movies, then this week is right up your alley. Between Tomorrowland and the Spring Awakening, this may as well be an advertisement for electronic music. One was in Belgium and one was in Chicago, but they both ratcheted up the energy in their own crazy ways. Being from the Midwest, Spring Awakening is without a doubt in the top five on my festival bucket list.

In other news, Ariana Grande might have a career in acting the way she can impersonate other pop divas on Fallon. On the other side of the late night able now sits Stephen Colbert who found a way to roast celebrity lifestyle brands by creating one of his own. Really pumped he's back on television and you can bet there will be plenty more snippets of his shows in the future. Rounding out the top five is Disclosure's new video for their latest single Jaded. It was cool to hear Howard Lawrence's vocal debut on the track over their typically awesome production. Caracal is a week away, color me excited as hell to listen to their album from front to back...#Caracal
Disclosure - Jaded (Video)

Tomorrowland Festival Aftermovie

Spring Awakening Festival Aftermovie

Ariana Grande Impersonates Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera & Celine Dion on Fallon

Stephen Colbert Goes to Town on Celebrity Lifestyle Brands (Video)

Photo Credit: YouTube

Videos of the Week February 27th

Let's call it a "memorable" week for videos with a fun mix of new stuff, creative stuff and even a few covers. Kanye leads the way in the new stuff section with his debut of All Day at the Brit 2015 Awards. The track is chalked full of energy, but lyrically it's just a bunch of chest puffed out yelling. Hopefully there are more thoughtful tracks like Only One on his album, I've missed that side of 'Ye.

If you haven't listened to Big Sean's new album, you really are missing out. Skyscrapers is a stand out, but there's a lot more too. Ed Sheeran is a boss, so it only makes sense he remixed CoCo. Similarly, Fallon and Xtina nailed more than a few impressions, including a spot on one of Britney Spears by Ms. Aguilera herself. And last, but not least, a bit of novelty for the week. Kudos to the on fleek video editing by papakilatube for matching the Barney visuals to Straight Outta Compton...#Barney
Big Sean - Skyscrapers (Video)

Ed Sheeran - I'm in Love With the CoCo (Cover)

Kanye Performs All Day at 2015 Brit Awards

Jimmy Fallon & Christina Aguilera Play Wheel of Musical Impressions

Barney With Attitude - Straight Outta Compton

Photo Credit: Vevo

Tiesto Crafts a Traquil Say Something House Remix

Yes, it's been awesome hearing Tiesto stretch his talents into other permutations of EDM, but his bread and butter has always been some form of house. In the most recent case, he teamed up with Emily Rowed to create a slightly funky, but incredibly smooth Say Somthing remix. Everyone remembers the heartfelt Christina Aguilera and A Great Big World collaboration on the original, but the way Tiesto simplified the song through his own cover of the track is simply awesome. I don't need to wax poetic about the track anymore than I already have because those who know Tiesto can hear this track and understand that no matter how electro-pop he may sway, he'll never abandon what helped elevate him to one of the best DJs in the world...#SaySomething

Castle Walls Gets the Dubstep Treatment

T.I.'s Castle Walls was hands down my favorite track off his No Mercy album. The beat by Alex Da Kid, the hook by Christina and T.I.'s thoughtful verses all combined to make one hell of a track. Check it below for a refresher...

Fast forward three years later and we now have a ethereal dubstep mix of the original from Collin McLoughlin and Skrux. It proceeds at a slow, measured pace, but Christina's melancholy sample resonates over the heavy electronics. T.I. is nowhere to be found in this mix, but I'll concede that it would have been a challenge to seamlessly weave a Hip Hop verse into the instrumental driven remix. Cool out to this one y'all...#CastleWalls

T.I. feat Christina Aguilera - Castle Walls (Colin McLoughlin & Skrux Remix)

Videos of the Week December 27th

Such sweet sorrow this week with the holiday season in full swing, yet one of my favorite up and coming groups TNGHT have officially separated. They were at the top of their game, producing tracks for Kanye and making their own great music. Now, they're off in two separate directions, which hopefully means we'll be getting twice the amount of great music from the HudMo and Lunice.

The good news is, if you're not ready to let go of the Holiday vibe, Timeflies has your back. Definitely not a bad rendition of Let It Snow if you feel like a pick me up. I'm looking forward to the Hollywood version of the NFL draft through Kevin Costner's portrayal of a Cleveland Brown's GM. Oh and Disclosure's flavor of dance music is so fresh you might as well pick it off the tree. That is all, see you in 2014...#HappyNewYear
TNGHT Break Up Video

Timeflies Tuesday - Let it Snow (Video)

Disclosure - Voices (Video)

Draft Day Trailer

Lady Gaga & Christina Aguilera - Do What U Want (Live on the Voice)

Photo Credit: YouTube

Videos of the Week March 15th

Not gonna lie, there was an entertainingly diverse mix of videos that came across the radar this week. It's hard to top @jtimberlake performing Mirrors live on @nbcsnl, but the production value of @Pitbull's pop hit Feel This Moment with @TheRealXtina. I'll give the most creative award to @reeltalk6788 for attempting an ASL translation of Started From the Bottom. If you asked me which was the funniest video of the week, that award goes to @JeffGordonWeb for the hilarious, white-knuckle test drive he took a poor used car salesman on. All I can say is bravo @PepsiMAX for the edgy situational humor...#GordonTestDrive
Pitbull feat Christina Aguilera - Feel This Moment (Video)

Justin Timberlake - Mirrors (Live on SNL)

Pepsi MAX & Jeff Gordon Present: "Test Drive"

Drake's Started From the Bottom in Sign Language

Big K.R.I.T. - R.E.M. (Video)

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)

"I Just Wanna Feel This Moment" - Pitbull & Christina Take on A-Ha

Just in case anyone thought @Pitbull was taking any sort of break this year, he's back with yet another soon to be platinum album Global Warming. The track below with @theRealXtina is the latest single off his new album scheduled to drop on November 19th. If you're thinking to yourself, man that sample sounds really familiar, what's that from? I've got you govered, A-Ha moment!

Like only Armando can do, he successfully transformed an 80s pop anthem into a Miami club anthem. Sure Christina will deserve a lion's share of the credit for this becoming a top 10 single, but The Messengers deserve just as much dap for weaving all elements (sample, vocals, verses mixed with Pitbull's upbeat Miami club sound) together. As a quick sidebar, I had no idea that one of my favcorite ghostwriters @NasriWorld was one half of The Messengers (along with @AdamMessinger_). It all makes sense now...

If I were to forecast this weekld be cold with a 100% chance of turkey and lots of Pitbull... #StayTuned

Pitbull feat Christina Aguilera - Feel This Moment (prod by The Messengers)
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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

"Everyone Thinks That I Have It All, It’s So Empty Living Behind These Castle Walls"

Even though T.I. just got sent back to the same Arkansas prison on November 1st to serve an 11 month sentence following a drug related arrest/violation of his parole, the show must go on with his album No Mercy that is due out December 7th. Taking one quick look at the tracklist has me beyond excited to not only see a DJ Toomp track, but also a Danja, Jim Jonsin, @KanyeWest and most notably an Alex da Kid produced track. I'd say @ALEXDAKID is making quite a name for himself with all these high profile production credits of late.

The slow and steady rat-a-tat of the beat over a whiny electro-synth piano creates a perfect backdrop for T.I. to open up about how being famous and great isn't all cracked it's up to be sometimes. Sort of appropriate considering how famous and rich @TIP is, yet he can't seem to stay out of jail, making the subject of the track ominously realistic as he now resides behind walls in a castle that no man ever wants to visit. Call it a modern day critique of fame and fortune or even a more emotional, somber, present day version portrayal of a true Hip Hop star and the struggle he still goes through despite the unrelenting success, either way it's got a much deeper messages and is accentuated by a beautiful hook delivered by Christina Aguilera.

As facinated as I've become with this track, it was cool hearing about how the track came to be from the newest, hottest kid on the block named Alex...shhhh Alex da Kid is coming!

Slated to be a single off his new album, this one is headed for that NUMBER 1 SPOT! Go support T.I. when his album drops on November 7th, early prediction is that it'll compete with Eminem and Kanye for album of the year...

T.I. feat Christina Aguilera - Castle Walls (prod by Alex Da Kid)

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