Music Minute - BET's Best International Act (Africa) nominees video

The BET Awards will be held tonight in Los Angeles, California.  The show will be televised live from the Shrine Auditorium at 8pm EST.  While these award shows are exciting for the star power they pull, I am more excited about one category - Best International Act (Africa). If you are not familiar with the nominees in this category, fret not.  Here's your chance to catch a glimpse of the artists - their videos are below.  Press play!!!  
1. Camp Mulla (Kenya), 2. Ice Prince (Nigeria), 3. Lira (South Africa), 4. Mokobe (Mali), 
5 .Sarkodie (Ghana), 6. Wizkid (Nigeria)


Win or lose, to be nominated is great recognition and these artists who are obviously talented and should be very proud of themselves! Big ups Africa!!!

TV Minute - MTV Video Music Awards (the recap)

Another night, another award show!  This one on MTV honoring the best in music videos.  An odd thing  considering MTV hardly plays any music videos in favor of reality tv which seems to have revolutionized television in the recent years. That being said, the best had to be honored last night at this annual event.

The show started out with an hour long pre-show that showcased some music, celebrity interviews on the black carpet, fashion and all the outrageousness that go along with a show of this magnitude! The set design was a little odd for me for a pre-show.   
Minutes before the actual show began, Beyonce confirmed that she was pregnant by flaunting a baby bump and actually rubbing it to further prove it!!  MTV immediately sent out a tweet confirming that the chosen one was indeed with child! Seconds later, the world was abuzz with the news!
Beyonce pretty much upstaged everyone by making that announcement!  She was positively glowing!

The show did not have host.  I guess after Chelsea Handler last year it was their best bet to go host-less! She sucked really bad! Kevin Hart did some behind-the-scene video clips that a regular host would have done.  

Lady Gaga opened the show with a perfomance of You and I.  All this while in drag.  She played her male alter-ego through the entire show.  While she did great as always, it was odd to see her this way!  We are used to Lady Gaga showing up at award shows in outrageous garb/vessel! I expected no different but I guess that does get tiring after a while!  But this didn't do her any favors given the fact that there have been doubts about her gender! No doubt, she was born that way - which ever it is!!

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music, Lady Gaga

There were several noteworthy perfomances during the show which I will highlight below. 

• Neyo & Pitbull performed their smash hit dance record,  Give Me Everything Tonight.  I absolutely love this song!!  Seems like every collaboration Pitbull does turns to a smash hit! 

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music, Pitbull

• Jay Z & Kanye West performed Otis from the album Watch The Throne that's currently leading the charts in record sales.  The duo have the most over-zealous fans! Some dude in the audience had the balls to bum rush the stage while they were perfoming before quickly being whisked away!  Is that you Lil Mama? lol!!

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music, JAY Z and Kanye West

• Adele was simply put, AMAZING!!! No frills, no shrills just thrills & pure talent! Oh how I love thee Adele!

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music, Adele

• Beyonce finally hit the stage with Love on Top after setting the twitterverse ablaze with her announcement on the black carpet!!  It was great a perfomance and those lyrics really hit home for her! Wait for the big reveal....  Congrats B & Jay!

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music, Beyoncé

• Chris Brown was by far my favorite of the night! His was quite the perfomance!  There is no doubt that Breezy can dance his ass off but this performance was exciting and had elements of danger with that high flying trapeze act!  Way to go Breezy! If only JayZ could have at least applauded that act because it was GREAT! Still bitter about the Riri saga? Let's get over that already!  She has!

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music, Chris Brown

• Amy Winehouse's tribute -  The tribute was good but lacking!  While I love totally swoon over Bruno Mars vocals,  British songstresses Adele (who was available) & Duffy should have been part of the tribute!  Let's hope the Grammy Awards will honor Amy, right.

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music, Bruno Mars

The WTF moments went to the entire Young Money crew!!  Nikki Minaj was doing way too much!! That whole getup was weird and a total fashion failure!  Drake had on a button down sweater! Stop raiding your grandpa's closet!  Lil Wayne on other other hand was just a mess!! From his awful getup to the angry performance and mic hurl! Was that really necessary?! Yes, the world is well aware that you're beefing with Jay Z but please spare us!!  From the wise words (terms used loosely) of PaulyD from Jersey Shore please STD - Stop The Drama!!  ...and for for goodness sake, kill the auto-tune already!

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music, Lil Wayne

Honorable mention goes to Jessie J for her amazing perfomances going into the commercial breaks!  Even with a broken leg, she had more stage presence than most able bodied folks!  She has some great vocals!!

For a list of all the winners click here.
For the fashion pics click here.

Music Minute - Billboard Music Awards: The Recap

It was that time of of year again!!  Another award show, a very happy camper in me! On Sunday night  the Billboard Music Awards aired live from Las Vegas on FOX drawing the biggest audience the show has had since 2003 according to the Nielsen ratings!   Eminem and teen pop sensation Justin Bieber dominated awards, each taking home a total of six awards. There was a six-way tie for second place between Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Usher, Taylor Swift, Mumford & Sons and Taio Cruz, who each won three trophies.

I must say the show was very entertaining though I was disappointed by the host, Ken Jeong, of the Hangover fame; who was not in his top form.  I tuned it for a variety of reasons but my main reason was to witness Beyonce receive the Billboard Millennium Award.  This was really the highlight of the night without a doubt!!  Her performance of "Who Run The World" was EPIC! This woman has to be part beast! She was incredible and the dancing was superior!  She then received the monumental award from her mom who was on hand to present it.  Most surprising was the fact that she acknowledged her love for her husband, JayZ publicly during her speech.  Lovely!

Ceelo Green played a medley of his hit songs complete with a piano stunt!! I very much admire his creativity that has always set him apart from the 
crowd.

Rihanna who took home several awards which included the award for Radio Artist Of The Year performed S&M the remix with Britney Spears! Sexy! Sexy! Sexy! Wouldn't expect anything else from this duo but I'm I the only person who feels that Britney's iconic dancing glory days are dead and gone? She barely moves on stage these days!

Neyo & Pitbull hit the stage with their new song, "Everything Tonight"! Nicely done! I am totally loving this song!! Pitbull has been getting lots of radio play lately!! Seems like every song he's featured on becomes a hit!

Lady Antebellum who won for Country Song Of The Year for "I Need You Now" also performed "Just A Kiss". Their music always leaves me feeling warm and fuzzy on the inside. *sigh*

I would not post this and leave out The Black Eyed Peas! They have been dominating the billboard charts for a while now. Here's their medley of hits.

The wtf mention goes to Nikki Minaj. Her performance left me confused. It was completely luck luster until Britney Spears stepped in and gave that snoozer the jolt it needed!!

For the carpet photos click here.

Quotable Quotes - Music makes me high!!!

Can you imagine a world without music?  What a dull place earth would be!  To many people in many cultures music is an important part of their way of life. I love all kinds of music and it's hard to put me in a box.  I appreciate all music genres some more than others. My mood heavily influences what I listen to.  Today, I happen to be homesick and some of the music below evokes some great childhood memories worth re-living. Enjoy my choices below; 

Mbilia Bel - Nakei Nairobi


Clearly, the language barrier doesn't bother me:)

Mbilia Bel - Nadina

Yvonne Chaka Chaka- Mamaland

Them Mushrooms

Music Minute - HOT! HOT! HOT!!

The video below needs no description!! Enjoy the song/view:)

"Til The End of Time"

Music Minute - Adele!

I am seriously a stan! She has an amazing voice and and she is such a refreshing voice in the current music scene that features; murky/trashy/boppy/trippity/auto-tune fiasco! *sigh* You know what I mean...  In an era of auto-tunes and lip-synching, Adele is a breath of fresh air. I thought her album "19" was a revelation until she released her sophomore album "21" and I was blown away song after song after song after song!  It's no wonder she continues to dominate the music charts all over the world!!

Check out some favorites...

Rolling in the deep

In Acapella

and this one,

Voice, meet Piano = Piano, meet Voice!!

{{{excuse me while I have an eargasm!!}}} 

Some One Like You

I can think of very few people who need only one instrument to back up their voice.

Go to town with it folks, I am officially smitten:)

Music Minute - American Music Awards

Ok, I have been falling behind on my updates!! Better late than never but never late is better!! I promise to keep it fresh to the best of my ability.

The American Music Awards came on 2 Sundays ago *pardon my delay* and the entire show was pretty entertaining and well produced!  If you know me by now, you would know that I live for awards shows!!  When the best in entertainment are acknowledged and awarded, you're guaranteed to find me there - at least on tv!  Here are the highlights.

• Rihanna opened the show with a medley of her current hits.  What she lacks in dancing skills, she more than makes up for with her presence alone! She is gorgeous! Was it just me or did she just do a mini tribute to Africa with the drum/dance bit? The energy was great.
• Enrique Iglesias came on with Pitbull to perform "I Like It" The performance was great! Very high energy but Enrique needs to step up his fashion game! Pitbull simply upstaged him!  Just because your hot doesn't mean you should disregard all effort.. just saying!  That 'just woken up' look is getting old.
• Usher nabbed the first award of the night and went on to get another award during the show to give him a total of two.  He performed "DJ's Got Us Falling In Love" which is a hot record! He has had a great year and don't you dare call it a comeback! He never left as he proclaimed!  His litle protege Justin Bieber was the big winner of the night nabbing four of the biggest awards of the night!  This kid has had amazing sales since his debut from being a YouTube sensation.  I must admit I am a 'belieber' Yep, I realize how lame that sounds but we can't deny the fact that the Biebs is a force to be reckoned with! Was touching to see him ask his mentor, Usher, on stage to help accept his award for Artist Of The Year!
• Pink - I love this woman! She can't do any wrong in my eyes! She performed, "Raise Your Glass" and did it the Pink way!  Granted she wasn't hanging on a trapeze like she did at the Grammys...she's knocked up after all but was still able to deliver a high energy performance! Bravo!
• Diddy and the dirty money crew - I was confused by the whole thing...
• Christina Aguilera - we all know this girl has some amazing pipes on her! I was looking forward to seeing her do thing but it was blah for me.
• The return of the boy bands - New Kids On The Block and The Back Street Boys recently announced that they are going on tour together! Exciting! They closed the show with a medley of their signature hits! I had forgotten how much i used to love the BSB!

Ps: Since I am very late in posting this, no video clips will be available... YouTube can hook that up for you:)

Music Minute - Kanye West "Runaway" Short Film Premiere

The much-anticipated short film for 'Runaway' by Kanye West premiered last night exclusively on MTV and BET.  There has been a lot of buzz around it and I HAD to tune in to see the spectacle for myself. 

To try to describe it, would be an injustice to art.  I would fail miserably!  There was a lot going on!! It was however, visually stunning though it left me confused in some parts.  I feel like whoever was responsible for the concept, creativity etc etc, went overboard with it.  Michael Jackson is still the king of very well executed music videos/short films in my humble opinion.  I wont ramble anymore.  Judge for yourself.

Music Minute - Liquor Store Blues

I am in love with Bruno Mars's voice! Ever since I first caught a listen of B.OB's "Nothing On You" featuring him.   He has such a melodious tone to his voice that I wouldn't tire of listening to.  If only he would keep churning the great songs and stay away from that bad coke habit that got him in trouble recently!  Is cocaine the new black?  Seems like everyone is doing it.  Smh!!  Here's his newly released song "Liquor Store Blues" featuring Damien Marley.  Nicely done!

"Aint that some ...!"

Have you ever had a "Ceelo - Fuck you" moment?

There are so many times I want to just get that fitting green dress, pull up my hair, wear some pearls, call my girlfriends(a la DreamGirls) and do a chorus of "F*ck you!)

Ha!

You know what am talking about! That pesky one person that drives you up a wall.

It could be an Ex, a bad boss, a jealous relative or just some plain 'ol party-poopers!

As soon as I saw this video, I knew it would be a banger, I like the old school vibe and the throwback to Outkast's Hey Ya or Roses.

iLike *wink*

This song will be a soundtrack to talk-to-the-hand moments that will now pop up, if someone refuses to give you your 10s! Simply tell 'em "Fuck you" with a swipe of your finger under your chin *wink*

Music Minute - P Square (No Easy)

Just because it's that kind of night....party responsibly folks!!

*The great message in the song is outweighed by the flashy video - enjoy it nonetheless!