Anita Baker covers Tyrese's hit from 1999 and makes it very much her own. I really hoped this would be a cover of Massive Attack's "Lately," because Ms. Baker would absolutely kill it doing Shara Nelson's part. Anita Baker is a national treasure, a Detroit Lions fan, and one of my favorite celebrities on Twitter. The first label she was ever on was called Ariola Records, which makes me laugh because I am an idiot. Last night she simultaneously live-tweeted the debate and the Lions-Bears game and it was glorious. She makes use of caps lock when appropriate, loves to drink cups of coffee, and always ends with her initials, "ab." A sample tweet from Anita: "FREE GIFT!! Limited Time offer! Get it NOW. While it lasts!! His GIFT...of This Brand New Day!! :) ab"
Grade: A
Best YouTube Comment: "The Queen of Quiet Storm —AnneBoleynMarquess
Two weeks ago, as I began to figure out my plans for the 2012 Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, my SPIN magazine arrived in the mail. As I flipped through it, I saw a piece on up-and-coming artist Gary Clark Jr., who, according to the magazine, was performing at more major festivals than practically any other artist this summer. He was on my short list to see and interview once I arrived in New Orleans, so I was curious to see how crazy his touring schedule was. As I looked at the festivals listed, however, I saw a glaring exception. Essence wasn't listed as one of the festivals.
Interesting.
As weeks became days and the time came where I had to actually purchase a ticket to New Orleans, I asked some friends with whom I had covered Coachella or South by Southwest if they were making the trek down to Essence. I was surprised to receive very few affirmatives.
Yesterday, a commercial so shocking, so confusing, so hilarious, and so unacceptable made the internet rounds and accumulated criticism at a rate previously unseen on the Information Superhighway. This commercial, a Burger King Crispy Chicken Snack Wrap advertisement starring the Queen of Hip-Hop/Soul, Mary J. Blige, seemed more like a comedy sketch than an actual spot approved (in all seriousness) by Burger King. While the initial reaction was pure backlash, having passed the 12-hour mark watching, sharing, and discussing the commercial (which has been removed from Burger King's official YouTube account) has shown me that if you keep pressing "replay," the way you feel will begin to change.
Landing a verse from André 3000, the Big Foot of hip-hop, is a great way to show your industry pull. The problem here for Jeezy, though, is that Drake’s album just had a brand new 3 Stacks feature, while this “I Do” verse has been floating around for over a year. Come on, ‘Dre: goddamn Ke$hagets a new one, but Jeezy has to settle for scraps?
