If I had to pick one act from the 60′s to put in my pocket and carry worth me at all times it would have to be Johnny, Pauly, Georgy, and Ring! Can’t no other group from back then carry their guitars. And now I have one other reason to big up them, they didn’t play for segregated crowds.

The Beatles had previously taken a public stand on civil rights in 1964, when they refused to perform at a segregated concert at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida.

City officials relented, allowing the stadium to be integrated, and the band took to the stage.

“We never play to segregated audiences and we aren’t going to start now,” said John Lennon. “I’d sooner lose our appearance money.”

The struggle for racial equality in America later inspired Paul McCartney to write Blackbird.

It should come to no surprise that the group took this stand, especially since they loved Little Richard, Chuck Berry and them.

BBC

The Young Money boss almost did it again, refering back to 2008 when The Carter III sold a millli in it’s first week on the shelf. But Still not bad in a time where records are not selling like they used to.

According to final numbers from Nielsen SoundScan, the Young Money rapper’s ninth album will arrive at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling a whopping 964,000 copies in its opening week. While impressive, it wasn’t quite enough to top its predecessor Tha Carter III, which sold 1,005,545 when it debuted in June 2008.

That gives Weezy the second-highest first week sales of the year, displacing Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne, but still behind Lady Gaga’s Born This Way (1.1 million).

Tha Carter IV also broke the U.S. iTunes Store’s single-week album sales record by registering around 345,000 downloads, reports Billboard.

A thrilled Weezy thanked his fans for their support. “Wow!!!!!!!!!! I have the best fans in the universe! I thank u all. Hard work and dedication pays well. Young Mula baby!(weezy voice),” he tweeted.

Nicki Minaj joined the celebration, adding, “A million here, A million there…Congrats Weezy! YMCMB.”

Grammy Award winning artist Cee-Lo Green will be appearing in VH-1′s 85th episode of Storytellers. The show will premiere Friday, May 20th @ 11 P.M. Click the image for a sneak preview…

(Not Cover Art)

Lil Wayne – Carter IV Tracklist

1. Tune This
2. Team Player (ft. Birdman)
3. Fore Play
4. They Love Me (ft. Nicki Minaj x Drake)
5. John (If I Die Today) (ft. Rick Ross)
6. No Competition
7. Holy Grail (History) (ft. Kanye West)
8. Carter Cash (ft. Jay-Z)
9. 6’7″ (ft. Corey Gunz)
10. Play My Game (ft. Tech N9ne)
11. Anne (ft. Swizz Beatz)
12. Street Life
13. Hard Talk (ft. Game x Bon Iver)
14. Fall From Grace (ft. Eminem)
15. Brain Dead (ft. Gucci Mane)
16. No Trust
17. Maybe She Will (ft. Rick Ross x Drake)
18. My Legacy

The Beastie Boys – Hot Sauce Committee Two drops May 3

Lil Wayne is about to take over. After a long wait, the Young Money leader has announced an official release date for Tha Carter IV.

Following the release of his Cory Gunz-assisted single “6 Foot 7 Foot,” Weezy explained that his highly-anticipated album is already in the can and will drop on May 16. “Tha Carter IV is done,” he told MTV News. “All they need to do is tell [manager Cortez Bryant] to stop sitting on it. Tez, stop sitting on Tha Carter IV and put the album out.”

Bryant confirmed the release date last night while backstage at the “I Am Music II” tour kickoff in Providence, Rhode Island. “May 16, believe that,” added Tunechi. “It can come out tomorrow ’cause I’m so finished … Tha Carter IV will be dropping May 16. If you’re not doing anything, do me.”

This marks the hip-hop martian’s first album since being released from jail in November. Though a final tracklisting has yet to be revealed, Nicki Minaj and Drake have recorded guest verses for the project.

Rap-Up

FACT: people download music for free.

Sean Parker of Napster fame recently stated in an interview, “you look at the data, somewhere between 4 trillion and 10 trillion songs are illegally downloaded every year.  And we’re looking at maybe 4 billion or so legal downloadeds per year.”

Music will always surface on file sharing platforms and consumers will continue to download music for free, but recordings are even more important for artists than ever before.  There is a new purpose for recorded content; artists will no longer generate revenue directly from recordings, instead this will be the entrance point for consumers into a the brand.  Great music will generate revenue through merch or ticket purchases, or lead to sponsorships as major brands seek out artists to enhance the value of their own product.  The solution to file sharing is for artists to better manage their recorded music by creating a dedicated landing page on their own website, housing a free album download. Continue reading →

When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.

-John Lennon

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Play close attention as Sherri Shepherd loses her ever-lovin’ mind….even Elizabeth Hasselbeck finds some excuse to reach out and touch the Purple One…

So after all of these years The Beatles have brought their Magical Mystery Tour to iTunes!!! I knew this day would eventually come, but I really didn’t think it would take upwards to 10 years! For you Mogul fans who know a thing or two about Johnny and them, you probably already have these albums in digital format. But I am sure it won’t stop the millions of fans who want The Beatles in any format!

Lil Wayne was released from Rikers Island in New York City this morning after serving almost eight months of a one-year jail term on a weapons conviction.

Wayne, 28, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., will celebrate his homecoming with a lavish party Sunday in Miami.

While locked up he kept busy writing new music, working out, reading, and I didn’t even know this cat was a guest editor for Sports illustrated and accurately predicted the winners of the US Open.

Former President Bill Clinton was quoted saying, “People like Lil Wayne don’t get that successful by being dumb! He has made mistakes like everyone has, now he has another chance”

Mack Maine, the president of Wayne’s Young Money record label, said the rapper’s friends plan to “treat him like a king, like the royalty that he is, and make him feel like we really missed him and welcome him back to the family, basically.”

He is scheduled to make his first public appearance at an upcoming Drake Concert this Saturday in Las Vegas.