Long Time No See
18 AprSo, I haven’t written anything in a couple of weeks. I’ve been busy with school,and work, and the stress of school LOL. But now I’m back with more posts about beauty,music,fashion and pop culture. Thanks for sticking around and leaving comments on my other post. I’m really like that there is a debate is starting, by leaving comments on Melange Lavonne’s Gay Bash Lyrics, I really like getting feedback from my readers.
P.S. I posted this Mariah Carey concert video, performing her one of many hit songs, “Make it Happen”. Its very inspirational to me, and since her album is out this week, it was best to promote her music (although I really love her older music from the 90′s, than what she has now)
Ben Jelen
1 FebIn 2004, the TRL audience was introduced to singer/songwriter Ben Jelen. The show debuted his first single, “Come On”, about a person longing to be with that special someone, although they’ve already broken up. “Come On” became a MTV/ Top 40 hit for the military brat/ Rutgers University graduate !!!! However the single and album, Give it All Away, failed to become top 10 hits on the Billboard Charts. He left his record label, Maverick Records ( Madonna‘s co-founded/ owned record label), released an independent album ( Rejected) and is now on Custard Records with a new album, Ex-Sensitive. Above I have a video of his first single, “Come On”, be sure to check out his My Space page: www.myspace.com/benjelen as well as his website: Ben Jelen
Samantha Mumba
10 Jan
As I’ve written in many posts, I was a huge fan of the teen pop scene in the late 90′s and early 2000′s, so I pretty much have almost every pop act programed in my long term memory. One singer I really liked was Ireland native Samantha Mumba, www.myspace.com/samanthamumba . Samantha was posed to be “the Black Britney”, and her first single off , “Gotta Tell You” (which is also the title of her first album) was a hit in the U.K. as well as the U.S. She followed with her second hit “Baby Come On Over (This is Our Night)” in the U.S., and had a string of other hits in the U.K. However, when she released her second single, “I’m Right Here” (featuring Damien Marleyand a cameo by J.Lo’s ex-husband Cris Judd) off her sophomore album “Woman”, it failed to match the same success as Gotta Tell You (both the single and the album). Afterwards, she starred in a couple of movies, including “The Time Machine” (directed by Steven Speilberg) Now, she is going to be on Dancing on Ice in England (think Dancing with the Stars, but on ice). Be sure to check out her myspace page: www.myspace.com/samanthamumba as well as : Dancing on Ice’s website http://www.itv.com/Entertainment/reality/dancingonice/default.html for the latest news and to show Samantha some support!!!!
Take Me There: Mya-Blackstreet-Mase-BillyBlink
14 DecTake Me There was a featured song for the Rugrats Movie. This was one of my favorite songs during the late 90′s. Here’s the rundown on the artists who were featured on this song. BlackStreet, is most down for their popular hit “No Diggity” and had several hits from the early 90′s and early 2000s. They’ve also had a slew of member changes that include R&B singer David Hollister (known for his hit “My Favorite Girl”). Most of the current members have seperate myspace pages but I did find an fan site: http://www.rockonthenet.com/artists-b/blackstreet.htm
Mya, www.myspace.com/therealmya, is a multi-talented entertainer: being a R&B singer, dancer and actress. Although she is mostly known in the gossip world as a singer with a bad reputation, music wise she is mostly known for her part in the hit single “Lady Marmalade” featuring Christina Aguilera,Pink and Lil’ Kim. As well as the crossover hit “Case of the Ex” from her sophomore album “Fear of Flying”. I’ve been a fan of hers since her first single “Its all about Me” featuring Sisqo.” Mya has also been in several movies including Chicago 2002, 2004′s Shall We Dance and 2006′s Cursed. Although her movie career has taken off, her music career has slid down. Her third album, “Moodring” only produced two singles and even though she has released a few songs from her fourth album “Liberation” (which has yet to be released) including the recent single “Ridin”, none of them have had commercial success yet.
I don’t know much about rappers Billy Blank, but that he rapped on this song. According to wikipedia, rapper Mase, www.myspace.com/masesworld, who also raps on this song, is his brother. Mase, is a rapper turned minister turned rapper who has also had several hits during the 90′s including “Feel so good” and “Looking at Me”. Mostly known for being one of P.Diddy’s protege for Bad Boy Records, Mase is now a rapper for G-Unit and plans to release another album in the future.
Imajin
7 Aug 
If you were a teenage girl in the late 90′s and obsessed with r&b boy-bands, you might have heard of the group Imajin. Olamide, Talib, Jamal and John created yet another boy band to love, whose style included great choreography and playing their own instruments to their songs. Their first single, ‘ Shorty you Keep playin’ with my mind”, featuring rapper Keith Murray, became an instant hit, following their next single ” No Doubt” and “Flava”. But somewhere along recording their second album, the group split up. The eldest member of the group, Jamal, apparently left and although they found another member, they haven’t been able to produce any hits. I found their Myspace page , www.myspace.com/theimajinproject as well as a fan website http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/penny/160/index3.html
I also have the music video for their song, “No Doubt”. P.S. it features a young Megan Goode, as one of the video girls.
Wild Orchid
29 Jun
The late 90′s pop/R&B/dance girl group, Wild Orchid, were made up of three friends, Renee Sandstrom, Stefani Ridel and Stacy Ferguson ( A.K.A. Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas). The had a few hit songs, including “Talk to Me” and “Supernatural” from their debut album “Wild Orchid”, released in the spring of 1997. I mostly remember them from the Fox Family Channel ( Now ABC Family) show, “Great Pretenders” and being most voted on the late music channel, “The Box“. “Great Pretenders” was a karaoke style show where teens would perform songs by their favorite artists and were judged on performance and given prizes. Each show ended with a performance from Wild Orchid. They released two more albums “Oxygen” in 1998 , “Fire” in 2001 (both failed in terms of sales) and “Hypnotic” (with only Renee and Stefani) in 2003, which was released after Fergie left the group and joined the Black Eyed Peas, and it also failed. This fan based website was what I could find that was left of the group:http://wildorchid.proboards23.com/index.cgi
T.A.T.U.
31 May
Do you remember T.A.T.U? They were a female russian duo (Lena Katina & Yulia Volkova ) who were most famous for wearing catholic school girl uniforms (like Britney Spears in her first single, “Hit Me Baby One More Time”)and their lesbian ways (like making out on stage during the song) than for their voices. They came to the United States in late 2001 and debuted their first single, “All the things she said” off their U.S. album 200 kh/m in the wrong lane. Their music was a mix of dance, pop, and techno, with lesbian themes in almost every song. Their touch-feelly behavior was seen as uncomfortable to others, because they were so comfortable with it (however, in real life, they aren’t lesbians or bisexuals). I actually liked their songs and they did a great remake of the song “How Soon is Now?” by the band Love Spit Love. They also released another album Dangerous and Moving, but it wasn’t released in the U.S. Check out their website at www.tatugirls.com
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