MKTO

MKTO is a musical duo consisting of Malcolm Kelley, Tony Oller and former songwriter Chad Boyle, who had left in May of 2014 due to the passing of his fiance. Their debut single, "Thank You", was released in January 2013. The follow up single, "Classic", was released in June 2013. MKTO's self-titled debut album was released on January 30, 2014.The group signed to Columbia Records and released their debut single "Thank You" on January 15, 2013. "Thank You" is a crossover between pop and hip hop. The song's music video was released onto YouTube via VEVO on January 4, 2013, and garnered over 500,000 views in two days of being released. The song has attained commercial success, reaching the top ten on the singles charts of Australia and New Zealand. In the music video, Harold Perrineau, who played the father of Malcolm Kelley's character on Lost, appeared as a reference to the show. MKTO released their second single, "Classic" along with the music video on June 20, 2013. In July 2013, they served as the opening for Emblem3 on their summer tour across the United States. Their self-titled debut album was released on April 1, 2014. The music video for third single and first track on MKTO, "God Only Knows", was released on November 29, 2013 on YouTube and Vevo. They also served as the opening for Emblem3's #bandlife Tour and Demi Lovato's "Demi: World Tour" in 2014. In February 2014, their debut album went to #1 in Australia and #6 in New Zealand. During the summer of 2014, MKTO went on their first headlining tour, the American Dream Tour. This featured opening acts Tiffany Houghton and Action Item. The third single to be served off their debut album in the United States is "American Dream".

"The world is spinning too fast for you and me So tell me whatever happened to the American Dream"
                                                                         -MKTO

LIL Wayne

Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr., known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, songwriter, producer, and entrepreneur from New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1991, at the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo The B.G.'z, alongside fellow New Orleans-based rapper Lil' Doogie. In 1996, Lil Wayne formed the Southern hip hop group Hot Boys, with his Cash Money label-mates Juvenile, Young Turk and Lil' Doogie (who now goes by B.G.). Hot Boys debuted with Get It How U Live! that same year. Lil Wayne gained most of his success with the group's major selling album Guerrilla Warfare (1999). Along with being the flagship artist of Cash Money Records, Lil Wayne is also the chief executive officer (CEO) of his own imprint, Young Money Entertainment, which he founded in 2005.
Lil Wayne's solo debut album Tha Block Is Hot (1999), was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). His following albums, Lights Out (2000) and 500 Degreez (2002), were certified gold. He reached higher popularity with his fourth album Tha Carter (2004), which was led by the single "Go D.J." and his appearance on Destiny's Child's top ten single "Soldier", that same year. The album was followed by Tha Carter II (2005) and several mixtapes and collaborations throughout 2006 and 2007. Wayne's sixth album Tha Carter III (2008), became his most successful album to date, with first-week sales of over one million copies in the United States. The album includes the number-one single "Lollipop", as well as "A Milli" and "Got Money", and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.
Following the success of Tha Carter III, Wayne decided to record a rock-esque album titled Rebirth. The album, released in 2010, was certified gold by the RIAA, despite a generally negative critical response. In March 2010, Lil Wayne began serving an 8-month jail sentence in New York after being convicted of criminal possession of a weapon stemming from an incident in July 2007. Wayne's eighth album I Am Not a Human Being (2010), was released during his incarceration. His 2011 album and first following his release, Tha Carter IV, sold 964,000 copies in its first week of availability in the United States. It includes the singles "6 Foot 7 Foot", "How to Love" and "She Will". On September 27, 2012, Lil Wayne passed Elvis Presley as the male with the most entries on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, with 109 songs. Lil Wayne's eleventh studio album, Tha Carter V has been delayed multiple times and has no concrete release date.
Lil Wayne has announced several possible upcoming projects, including a collaborative album entitled I Can't Feel My Face with Harlem-based rapper Juelz Santana, that has been in production for several years. On June 19, 2008, Lil Wayne and T-Pain formed a duo called T-Wayne with plans to release an album however those plans have died down.According to an interview with Drake, in the December 2011 issue of XXL, plans for an upcoming album with Lil Wayne had been scrapped for the time being because of the Jay-Z and Kanye West collaboration Watch the Throne (2011).
In late 2011, it was announced by Mack Maine, that Lil Wayne and Juelz Santana have gone back to working on their collaborative album I Can't Feel My Face, which had been delayed for a few years due to "label politics". In April 2012, on the premiere of MTV's Hip Hop POV, Wayne sat down with Amanda Seales and spoke briefly about an album he put together titled Devol (loved, backwards), an album full of "love songs" that he wrote during his imprisonment at Rikers Island. In May 2013 he has confirmed the album will still be released He also announced that a new Big Tymers album would be released, which would result in Drake and himself being added to the group. Wayne has indicated that some of these projects will be released prior to his final album, which will be Tha Carter V.



I don't want to be understood because if people understand me, they get tired of me.

                                                                            -Lil Wayne

 

Mr.Probz

Dennis Princewell Stehr, better known by his stage name Mr Probz, is a Dutch singer-songwriter, rapper, producer and actor. He is known for his raps, songs and choruses in both Dutch and English. In 2013, he released the song "Waves" and in 2014 it was remixed by Robin Schulz, leading to international recognition.
On 16 September 2013, Mr Probz released his debut album The Treatment for free through SoundCloud.The album does not feature his single "Waves".
The follow up to "Waves", "Nothing Really Matters", was released in September 2014.

"My real purpose was to see you, and to judge, if I could, whether I might ever hope to make you love me."

                                                                                           -Mr.Probz

Tove Lo

Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson , better known by her stage name Tove Lo, is a Swedish singer and songwriter from Stockholm, Sweden. She gained attention for her 2013 single "Habits", and later mainstream success with a remix of the track by hip hop producers Hippie Sabotage titled "Stay High". Her debut EP, Truth Serum, was released in March 2014 featuring both versions of the song as well as singles "Out of Mind" and "Not on Drugs". Tove Lo's debut album, Queen of the Clouds, was released on September 30 in the U.S. as well as parts of Europe, Asia and Oceania through Island Records. Tove Lo has also written songs for a number of artists; including The Saturdays, Icona Pop, Girls Aloud, and Cher Lloyd among others.
Tove Lo's debut single, "Love Ballad", was released in the autumn of 2012. Second single, "Habits" was released in March 2013 on her SoundCloud page and through iTunes, although later being removed from the store. Tove Lo received much attention from "Habits", including recognition from artists such as Marina and the Diamonds.In June 2013, Tove Lo featured on Lucas Nord's single "Run on Love", and later in the year, on Seven Lions and Myon & Shane 54's collaborative single, "Strangers", which was released on 11 October 2013 and went to number 1 on SiriusXM BPM 51.Her third single, "Out of Mind", was released on 16 October 2013. On 6 December 2013, "Habits" was re-released under the title "Habits (Stay High)" on the iTunes store due to the popularity of a remix of the song titled "Stay High". The song has peaked in the top ten in countries all over the world; including Denmark, and reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Tove Lo appeared on the SVT Swedish television game show På spåret on 24 January 2014 performing covers of "Fidelity", from Regina Spektor, and "Peace", from Mika. She released her debut EP, Truth Serum, on 3 March 2014. The album peaked at number twenty on the Swedish Albums Chart. She released the "Habits" remix, "Stay High", on the same day as the EP. "Stay High" peaked at number thirteen on the Swedish Singles Chart. However, the single was hugely successful elsewhere, peaking within the top ten of the charts in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom as well as peaking in the top twenty of the charts in the Czech Republic and the United States. Tove Lo played her first U.S. show on 10 March 2014 at the Shameless SXSW Party and her first U.K. show at The Nottinghill Arts Club, London on 2 April 2014.
Tove Lo will be opening alongside Betty Who for Katy Perry in the Australia and New Zealand portion of her Prismatic World Tour. On 16 December 2014, Lo announced on her Twitter page that doctors had found cysts on her vocal chords and that surgery was required immediately. As a result she cancelled all shows for the following two months. However, Lo later announced that she would complete her remaining two scheduled opening acts for Perry's Auckland shows and subsequently plans to return home to undergo the surgery.
On 19 August 2014, Tove Lo announced through an interview with Rolling Stone that her debut album, titled Queen of the Clouds, would be released 30 September in the U.S. with a 2015 release date for the U.K., also revealing the album's artwork and track listing.^[The album features the singles "Habits" and "Not on Drugs", as well as a new version of her collaborative single with Swedish DJ Lucas Nord, "Run on Love". The twelve of the album's tracks are equally separated into three sections of four, titled "The Sex", "The Love" and "The Pain", reflecting the themes of the songs.

Ooh Staying in my play pretend Where the fun, it got no end Ooh Can't go home alone again Need someone to numb the pain
                                                   -Tove Lo

Juciy J

Todays highlight is Jordan Michael Houston better known by his stage name Juicy J, is an American rapper, songwriter and record producer from Memphis, Tennessee. He is a founding member of the Southern hip hop group Three 6 Mafia, established in 1991. In 2002, he released his solo debut album Chronicles of the Juice Man, in between Three 6 Mafia projects. In 2011, Juicy J announced that he was a part-owner and A&R rep for Wiz Khalifa's Taylor Gang Records and the following year he signed a solo deal with Columbia Records and Dr. Luke's Kemosabe Records.Juicy J released Stay Trippy, his third studio album under the aforementioned labels on August 27, 2013. He is the younger brother of frequent collaborator and fellow American rapper Project Pat.
From 2009 through 2011, Juicy J moved away from Three 6 Mafia focusing on his solo career. During this time he frequently collaborated with fellow rapper Wiz Khalifa, appearing on his mixtapes and releasing some of his own including Blue Dream & Lean. In December 2011, Juicy J confirmed rumors that he was the newest member of Wiz Khalifa's Taylor Gang imprint as a part-owner and A&R representative.In 2012, he was featured alongside his Taylor Gang label-mates, on the cover of Source Magazine's May 2012 issue. In 2012, he also released the lead single to his third album Stay Trippy, the chart topping "Bandz a Make Her Dance", which features 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne. The song was created in a two bedroom apartment in Washington, D.C. and was produced by Mike Will Made It. The song has peaked at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In September 2012, Juicy J secured a recording contract with Columbia Records and Dr. Luke's Kemosabe Records. In a November 2012 interview, Juicy J announced that his third studio album Stay Trippy, would be released in early 2013. He showed an interest in working with Nas, Dr. Dre and Jay-Z on the album. He later announced guest appearances on the album to include Wiz Khalifa, The Weeknd, Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz, Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown, Project Pat, Young Jeezy, Yelawolf and Big Sean. Juicy J also revealed the album would feature production from frequent collaborators Lex Luger, Sonny Digital, Mike Will Made It, Dr. Luke, Crazy Mike and Juicy J himself.
On January 20, 2013, it was announced that Juicy J will perform at the 2013 Paid Dues festival on March 30, 2013. On January 25, 2013, he released "Show Out", featuring Big Sean and Young Jeezy, as the second single from Stay Trippy. In June, the third single "Bounce It", was released. The album, released August 23, 2013, debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 64,000 copies in the United States.
Juicy J was featured in Katy Perry's single "Dark Horse" from her fourth album Prism (2013). The song was released on September 17, 2013. "Dark Horse" was serviced to US radio on December 17 as the album's third official single. On January 7, 2014, Juicy J announced that he is going to release his fourth studio album during 2014. A day later, he announced it is titled The Hustle Continues. On January 30, 2014, Juicy J announced his "Never Sober" concert tour, which began on February 20, 2014. He was supported by Travis Scott and Project Pat on select dates. In May 2014, Juicy J stated that the album would now be titled Pure THC: The Hustle Continues and be released in September 2014.
On August 7, 2014, he released "Low", featuring Nicki Minaj, Lil Bibby and Young Thug, as the first single from Pure THC: The Hustle Continues.

Purple all in my sprite, I'm high as Denzel on Flight.
                                                                                 -juicy j

Nicki Minaj

The highlight of the day is Onika Tanya Maraj better known by her stage name Nicki Minaj is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Born in Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago and raised in Jamaica, Queens, New York, Minaj received public notice after releasing three mixtapes between 2007–2009. She signed a recording contract with Young Money Entertainment in 2009.
Minaj's debut studio album, Pink Friday (2010), peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 and spawned the top-three single "Super Bass". During that time, Minaj became the first female solo artist to have seven singles simultaneously charting on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Her second studio album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012), also topped the chart and its lead single, "Starships", peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was reissued as an expanded version, subtitled The Re-Up. Minaj's upcoming third studio album, The Pinkprint (2014), is preceded by its second single, "Anaconda", which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and is her highest-charting single in the United States to date. Minaj made her film debut in the 2012 animated film Ice Age: Continental Drift, and also starred in the 2014 film The Other Woman. In 2013, she was a main judge on the twelfth season of American Idol.
Minaj was the first female artist included on MTV's Annual Hottest MC List, with The New York Times saying that some consider her "the most influential female rapper of all time". Her rapping is distinctive for its fast flow and the use of alter egos and accents, primarily British cockney. Minaj's colorful costumes, wigs and clothing have given her recognition as a fashion icon. In April 2013, Minaj became the most-charted female rapper in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, with over 44 appearances. Minaj has endorsed Adidas, MAC Cosmetics and Pepsi. She has won four American Music Awards, eight BET Awards, two MTV Music Awards, an MTV Europe Music Award, five Billboard Music Awards and Billboard '​s 2011 Rising Star award.



When you're a girl, you have to be everything, You have to be dope at what you do, but you have to be super sweet, and you have to be sexy, and you have to be this and you have to be that and you have to be nice, and you have to it's like, I can't be all of those things at once. I'm a human being.

                                                                -Nicki Minaj

 

Eminem

Marshall Bruce Mathers III best known by his stage name Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. In addition to his solo career, Eminem is a member of the group D12, as well as one half of the hip hop duo Bad Meets Evil, alongside Royce da 5'9". Eminem is the best-selling artist of the 2000s in the United States.Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 82nd on its list of The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.The same magazine declared him The King of Hip Hop.Including his work with D12 and Bad Meets Evil, Eminem has achieved ten number-one albums on the Billboard 200. Eminem has sold more than 155 million albums and singles, making him one of the world's best-selling artists of all time. As of June 2014, he is the second best-selling male artist of the Nielsen SoundScan era, the sixth-best overall selling artist in the United States, and the best-selling hip-hop artist, having sold 45,160,000 albums and 31 million digital singles.After his debut album Infinite (1996), Eminem rose to mainstream popularity in 1999 with his second album The Slim Shady LP. The Slim Shady LP was a commercial success and earned the rapper his first Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. His next two releases, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) and The Eminem Show (2002), were worldwide successes, each earning US Diamond certification in sales. Both albums also won the Best Rap Album Grammy Award, making Eminem the first artist to win such an award for three consecutive LPs. This was followed by Encore in 2004, another critical and commercial successful album. Eminem went on hiatus after touring in 2005. He released Relapse in 2009 and Recovery in 2010, which was named the best-selling album of 2010 worldwide, becoming the rapper's second album, after The Eminem Show, to become the internationally best-selling album of its year. Eminem won Grammy Awards for both Relapse and Recovery, giving him a total of 13 Grammys in his career. His eighth studio album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2, was released in November 2013. His record label Shady Records released Shady XV in November 2014.
Eminem has opened other ventures, including his own record label Shady Records with his manager Paul Rosenberg. He also has his own radio channel, Shade 45 on Sirius XM Radio. In November 2002, Eminem starred in the hip hop drama film, 8 Mile. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for the film's song "Lose Yourself", becoming the first rap artist ever to win the award He has also made cameo appearances in the films The Wash (2001), Funny People (2009), The Interview (2014), and the television series Entourage.Starting in June 2014, Eminem and his manager Paul Rosenberg began using the hashtag #SHADYXV on social networking sites, with Eminem also wearing a T-shirt branded with the hashtag to one of his performances. On August 25, 2014, a press release on Eminem's official website revealed the hashtag to be the name of an upcoming compilation album by Shady Records, titled Shady XV. On the same day, August 25, 2014, the first single from the album, titled "Guts Over Fear", which features singer-songwriter Sia was released. The tracklist for the album was released on October 29, 2014.Shady records released a cypher to promote the album in which Eminem did a seven-minute freestyle. Detroit Vs. Everybody was released as the 3rd single of the album on November 11, 2014, with Eminem, Dej Loaf, Royce da 5'9, Danny Brown, Big Sean and Trick Trick as the performers. Shady XV was released on November 24, 2014, in the week of Black Friday and consists of one greatest hits disc and one disc of new material from Shady Records artists such as D12, Slaughterhouse, Bad Meets Evil, and Yelawolf. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 138,000 copies in the United States


"Say there's a white kid who lives in a nice home, goes to an all-white school, and is pretty much having everything handed to him on a platter - for him to pick up a rap tape is incredible to me, because what that's saying is that he's living a fantasy life of rebellion."

                                                                                                    -Eminem

Hozier

Andrew Hozier-Byrne ,known mononymously as Hozier is an Irish musician and singer-songwriter from Bray, County Wicklow. In 2013 he released his debut EP, featuring the hit single "Take Me to Church", and his second EP From Eden in 2014. His debut studio album, Hozier, was released in Ireland in September 2014 and globally in October 2014.

"My church offers no absolution. She tells me, ‘Worship in the bedroom’. The only heaven I’ll be sent to is when I’m alone with you."
                                                                                        -Hozier

Dr. Dre

The highlight today is  Dr. Dre, is an American record producer, rapper and entrepreneur. He is the founder and current CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics. Dre was previously the co-owner of, and an artist on, Death Row Records. He has produced albums for and overseen the careers of many rappers, including Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Xzibit, 50 Cent, The Game, and Kendrick Lamar. He is credited as a key figure in the popularization of West Coast G-funk, a style of rap music characterized as synthesizer-based with slow, heavy beats. In 2014, Dr. Dre was ranked as the second richest figure in the American hip hop scene by Forbes with a net worth of $550 million. And, Forbes also ranked him as the highest paid musician, at $620 million dollars in 2014.

Dre began his career as a member of the World Class Wreckin' Cru and later found fame with the influential gangsta rap group N.W.A with Eazy-E, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and DJ Yella, which popularized the use of explicit lyrics in rap to detail the violence of street life. His 1992 solo debut The Chronic, released under Death Row Records, led him to become one of the best-selling American performing artists of 1993 and to win a Grammy Award for the single "Let Me Ride". That same year he produced Death Row labelmate Snoop Dogg's quadruple platinum debut Doggystyle.
In 1996, he left Death Row Records to establish his own label, Aftermath Entertainment. He produced a compilation album titled Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath in 1996, and released a solo album titled 2001 in 1999. During the 2000s, he focused on production for other artists, while occasionally contributing vocals to songs. Dr. Dre signed Eminem and 50 Cent to his record label in 1998 and 2002 respectively, while contributing production on their albums. He has won six Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year. Dr. Dre has also had acting roles in movies such as Set It Off, The ash and Training Day. Rolling Stone ranked Dre at 56 on their list of "100 Greatest Artists of All-Time".
On December 15, 2008, Dre appeared in the remix of the song "Set It Off" by Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall (also with Pusha T); the remix debuted on DJ Skee's radio show. At the beginning of 2009, Dre produced, and made a guest vocal performance on, the single "Crack a Bottle" by Eminem and the single sold a record 418,000 downloads in its first week. and reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart on the week of February 12, 2009. Along with this single, in 2009 Dr. Dre produced or co-produced 19 of 20 tracks on Eminem's album Relapse. These included other hit singles "We Made You", "Old Time's Sake", and "3 a.m.". (the only track Dre didn't produce was the Eminem produced single "Beautiful")
On June 25, 2010, The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers honored Dr. Dre with its Founders Award for inspiring other musicians.
In an August 2010 interview, Dr. Dre stated that an instrumental album titled The Planets is in its first stages of production; each song being named after a planet in the Solar System. On September 3, Dr. Dre showed support to longtime protégé Eminem, and appeared on his and Jay-Z's Home & Home Tour, performing hit songs such as "Still D.R.E.," "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang," and "Crack a Bottle," alongside Eminem and another protégé, 50 Cent. Sporting an "R.I.P. Proof" shirt, Dre was honored by Eminem telling Detroit's Comerica Park to do the same. They did so, by chanting "DEEE-TOX," to which he replied, "I'm coming!"
Dr. Dre was featured on the cover of XXL in the December/January 2011 issue. After Detox he will be one of the producers of Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins' album Still Cool.
On November 14, 2011, Dre announced that he will be taking a break from music once he has finished producing for artists Slim the Mobster and Kendrick Lamar. In this break he will work on bringing his Beats By Dre to a standard as high as Apple and will also spend time with his family.
On January 9, 2012 Dre was announced to headline the final nights of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival taking place the weekends of April 13–15 and April 20–22



 The only two things that scare me are God and the IRS.

                                                                 -Dr. Dre