Expressionism: June 2009

Michael Jackson.....The epitome of brilliance in music and entertainment. Truly a perfectionist in his essence as a Virgo, Michael achieved unprecedented and unsurpassed feats as a pop superstar. With humble beginnings as a child star grouped with his four brothers ( Jermaine, Tito, Jackie, and Marlon) to form The Jackson 5, Michael later launched his solo career with Off The Wall(1979). Which was the first album to have four U.S top ten hits, including "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and "Rock With You".Off the Wall reached number three on the Billboard 200 and has since been certified for 7 million shipments in the US and eventually sold over 20 million copies worldwide. In 1980, Michael won three awards at the American Music Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Favorite Male Soul/R&B Artist and Favorite Soul/R&B Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". That year, he also won Billboard Music Awards for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for ( "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough").Also that year Michael secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37% of wholesale album profit. After Michael's early 1982 contribution, "Someone In the Dark", to the blockbuster film E.T. the Extra- Terrestrail, which garnered him a Grammy for Best Album for Children, Epic issued his second album, Thriller. In what would turn out to be the apex of Michael's career, the album remained in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 for 80 consecutive weeks, 37 at the peak. Seven singles from Thriller concurrently hit theBillboard Hot 100 top 10, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'".Thriller went on to sell upwards of 109 million copies, making it the best selling album of all time causing Michael's biographer to muse that "at some point, Thriller stopped selling like a leisure item — like a magazine, a toy, tickets to a hit movie — and started selling like a household staple." The period of Thriller was an extraordinarily lucrative one for Michael, whose lawyer Thriller also help forge MTV into it's heydayeven as MTV helped to fuel Thriller's sucssess. At the 1984 Grammy Awards Michael won eight awards: 1.Record of the year for "Beat It", 2. Album of the year for Thriller, 3.Best recording for children for "Someone In the Dark" E.T. movie, 4.Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male for Thriller, 5.Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical Bruce Swedien (engineer) for Thriller By Michael, 6. Producer of the year (Non-Classical) Micheal & Quicy Jones, 7.Best R&B vocal performance, male for "Billie Jean", 8. Best Rock vocal performance, male for "Beat It". This feat only matched numerically by Santana(Carlos Santana's Band). This post could actually become perpetual, considering his tenure streached over 4 decades... woooow. I guess what I really wanted to say was Michael spawned inspiration and exordinary music that shaped pop culture as we know it today. He will surely be missed..

Rest In Peace Mike

The mighty Mos Def has always gone by the spanish nickname, “Pretty Flaco,” but who would’ve known he would actually embody the name. In his new album, The Ecstatic, the mighty Mos Def becomes Pretty Flaco, rhyming in spanish on the track, “No Hay Nada Mas.” The track is reminiscent of “Umi Says” from Mos’ solo debut album, Black on Both Sides. It takes on the “Umi Says” sound of a dim prayer authored by Mos (and I think he actually concludes his bars with “Amen”). But that’s the thing... I say “I think” because some of the lyrics are unclear. It takes a few listens to get the idea. The words/lyrics that stand out are: “Guerra y vida” “Familia…la luz en la distancia” “Mi vista, mi casa, mi sueños, mi alma.” Seems like Mos is saying that we live in a constant state of paranoia—feeling a need to protect ourselves and the things that we give weight. Kinda dark, I know, but I think he’s saying there’s nothing more to being a human being. . .”No Hay Nada Mas.” But there is more to Pretty Flaco and this new album, so pick it up!