Lollapalooza 2011 Announces Lineup
Apr, 26 2011
This year, Lollapalooza will celebrate its 20th year and the just-announced lineup has the biggest names in rock and hip-hop coming to the party. The festival will be held in Chicago’s beautiful Grant Park August 5-7.
Headlining the festival are Eminem, Coldplay, Muse and Foo Fighters. Also on the bill are Cee-Lo Green, My Morning Jacket, Ween, Deadmau5, The Cars, Lykke Li, Crystal Castles, Sleigh Bells, Damian Marley, Nas, Ratatat and many, many more.
Lollapalooza founder and Jane’s Addiction front man Perry Farrell has curated a stage, as well, for house music. That stage will host Girl Talk, Pretty Lights, Kid Cudi, The Glitch Mob, Daedalus, and others.
Looks like the first weekend in August is shaping up to be a rager for the Midwest!
Check out the full lineup here. Tickets for the three-day event are $215 and on sale now. Click here to get yours.
-Court
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Ten Grammy Nominations Cap Eminem's Recovery
Dec, 2 2010
Not so long ago, Eminem was on a hiatus from music-making and unsure about whether he wanted to return to the scene. Any doubts he may have had will have long disappeared by now: comeback Relapse sold almost 5m copies worldwide and earned him three Grammy nominations and two wins; now Recovery, one of this year's biggest selling albums, has earned him a phenomenal ten Grammy noms, including the much coveted Album Of The Year.
Em is joined in that prestigious category by the two Ladys -- Gaga and Antebellum -- who both received six nominations overall, as well as Katy Perry (four nominations) and Arcade Fire (three nominations). Jay-Z also attained an impressive six nominations, but all those superstar acts lag behind newbie Bruno Mars and veteran British rocker Jeff Beck, who are both up for seven prizes each.
The 53rd Grammy Awards ceremony will take place at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, on February 13.
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Eminem's Recovery Shows Improvement After Relapse
Jul, 1 2010
As expected, Eminem is top of this week's Billboard 200 album chart with new album Recovery. Hopes were high among chart-watchers and in the record industry that Recovery might be the first album since Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III (2008) to break the one million-mark in debut week sales; it fell someway short of that, but still racked up a 2010-best of 741,000. It's also a better first-week tally than any new release from 2009, beating Susan Boyle's I Dreamed A Dream (701,000) and Eminem's own comeback album Relapse (608,000). Recovery is Eminem's sixth consecutive No.1 album.
Meanwhile, last week's No.1, Drake's Thank Me Later, has dropped to No.2 with a total of 157,000 sales, while Miley Cyrus's second album under her real name, Can't Be Tamed, finishes third with a disappointing 102,000. Often that would be worthy of a No.1, but it's a sharp drop from her first week Breakout (2008) tally, which was 371,000. From Miley to Ozzy: former Black Sabbath singer Osbourne is No.4 with 81,000 sales of Scream, and Now 34 rounds out the Top 5.
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Eminem's Comeback Continues With Third No.1
May, 14 2010
Eminem was one of the biggest stars in the world in the early part of the last decade, with 40 million album sales and a controversial public persona that provoked many more opinions. But between breakthrough hit "The Real Slim Shady" in May 2000 and his retreat from the music biz in 2005, he only scored one US Hot 100 chart-topper: The 8 Mile-soundtrack single "Lose Yourself."
In terms of album sales and critical response, his comeback has been a little underwhelming, with Relapse selling a total of 2m albums to date; the same as Encore (2004) sold in two weeks, albeit in a stronger industry. But the anticipation for new Em material among dedicated fans is as strong as ever: comeback single "Crack A Bottle" hit No.1 on the Hot 100 in February last year, and the first single from new album Recovery, "Not Afraid," has just hit No.1 too.
Both songs even feature in the top five fastest selling digital tracks ever: behind Flo Rida's "Right Round" (636,000 debut week sales) and the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" (465,000) comes "Crack A Bottle" (418,000) and "Not Afraid" (379,000).
Recovery is due for release on June 22.
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Eminem Avoids A Second Relapse
Apr, 18 2010
Eminem's comeback album Relapse was initially promised to be the first of a two-part release, with Relapse 2 coming a few months later. “We were on such a roll," Em said of his recording sessions, "we wound up with a ton of new music produced by Dre. Putting out Relapse 2 will let everyone get all of the best stuff.”
Just over a year later that plan has been officially revised. "I had originally planned for Relapse 2 to come out last year," Eminem said. "But as I kept recording and working with new producers, the idea of a sequel to Relapse started to make less and less sense to me, and I wanted to make a completely new album."
Eminem's sixth major label studio album will now be called, appropriately, Recovery. "The music on Recovery came out very different from Relapse, and I think it deserves its own title." With production from DJ Khalil, Just Blaze, Jim Jonsin and Boi-1da, the disc is due on June 22.
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Grammys Take No Chances With Em
Feb, 3 2010
For those at home, the most baffling part of the Grammys telecast was the largely silent performance by Eminem, Lil Wayne and Drake. Their medley of “Forever” and “Drop the World” was subject to such vicious censoring that large portions of the song were plunged into silence. Fans on Twitter and on blogs erupted into angry condemnation, not least because when uncensored versions of the performance surfaced on YouTube courtesy of foreign television channels, it quickly became apparent that the artists were actually doing a good job of self-censorship. Presumably the editors abroad didn’t know where to cut it; so they just didn’t.
One performance which was broadcast in its entirety was Taylor Swift’s duet with her longtime hero, Stevie Nicks. But Swift’s out-of-key contribution to Nicks’ classic “Rhiannon” was roundly criticized by the public, who probably wished the censors had jumped in to preserve the hitherto spotless reputation of the young singer. Not that Taylor’s rep took much of a hit: she did go home with four Grammys after all.
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Eminem Dominates The Decade
Dec, 12 2009
He released his debut album in 1999; he took a near five-year hiatus from recording, during which he became seriously addicted to sleeping pills; and his 2009 comeback is being out-sold by the debut of a middle-aged Scotswoman; but Eminem will end this decade as America's best-selling musician. Susan Boyle will be the best selling artist of this year, but she'll need several more hit records to come within touching distance of Eminem's career record, which shows he's sold around 32.2m albums since 2000, including 10.2m of The Marshall Mathers LP, and 9.8m of The Eminem Show. They place fourth and fifth respectively in Nielsen Soundscan's list of best-selling albums of the decade, which is topped by The Beatles' chart-toppers compilation 1, which has sold 11.5m copies in the US since it was released in November 2000. The ever popular mop-tops sold around 30m albums in total this decade, taking second place and extending their lead in the all-time sales ranking. Who will be the biggest sellers of the 2010s? It could well be someone like Boyle or Lady Gaga, as CD sales have been on a downward trend for years, so today's stars have a better chance than those yet to emerge. Or, it could be The Beatles.
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Eminem: X-Factor Feels So Empty Without Me
Nov, 27 2009
Are the American Idol and X-Factor judges really the best people to be giving advice on each contestant’s performance? Not according to Eminem, who wants Simon Cowell to give him the chance to guest-judge on the UK’s X-Factor show. "No disrespect to the current judges but you need people who are global, platinum-selling stars,” he told British tabloid The Sun. As well as Cowell, the X-Factor judges are Irish band manager Louis Walsh, Girls Aloud member Cheryl Cole, and Dannii Minogue, best known as Kylie’s sister. "So much average talent comes out of these reality shows,” Eminem continued. “A hip-hop star will never win a show like X-Factor without somebody like me on the panel. It needs somebody in power to open a door for them. I'm not sure I would have the time to do it full-time, but I would come out and be a guest judge. Simon tells it like it is and I am down with that."
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Controversy As Usual For Eminem
Nov, 5 2009
Eminem is no stranger to controversy – in fact it’s fair to say he actively courts it – and his recent appearance at the BET Hip-Hop Awards certainly didn’t disappoint. The show featured a series of clips which were intended to showcase the rhyming talents of the best rappers in the business. However, when Slim took his turn at the mic after verses from Mos Def and Black Thought of The Roots, parts of his performance were hastily bleeped out by the show censors, leaving the viewers at home to piece together the offending phrase based on the gasps of the shocked studio audience. Since then, opinion has been divided on whether Eminem’s performance was masterful or a step too far; so, business as usual for the headline-grabbing rapper. His next opportunity to create a little scandal will be his scheduled performance as a nominee at the American Music Awards, which will be broadcast live on Sunday November 22. If the producers of that show weren’t already on the edge of their seats, they will be now.
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Eminem
Jun, 2 2009
When Sasha Baron Cohen dropped his peachy cheeks into Eminem’s lap, it was no surprise that the outraged rapper stomped out of the television studios in disgust. The incident took place during filming of the MTV Movie Awards when Cohen entered the studio as his new gay character, Bruno. His understated entrance involved him flying into the studio on a wire, (almost) wearing an angel costume. Unfortunately, the wire got tangled, Cohen fell, Slim was underneath, and the rest is red-faced history. Video clips of the unfortunate incident made it to the internet in super fast time and within hours horrified fans were able to revisit the inglorious incident in open-jawed horror. However, before long the episode was revealed as a well rehearsed prank. Scott Aukerman, one of the writers for the show, apparently revealed all in his blog saying, “Yes, the Bruno/Eminem incident was staged... They rehearsed it at dress and yes, it went as far as it did on the live show”. Given that Eminem’s new album Relapse, has hit the top of the charts in several countries since its release, it may seem that such a prank was unnecessary, but as publicity stunts go, we reckon this was one of the most inventive we’ve seen for a while.
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Eminem
Apr, 13 2009
Fox News host Bill O'Reilly has railed against a scene in Eminem's comeback video "We Made You" which makes lurid reference to former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The song, described by O'Reilly as an "obscene rant," and by other critics as "not very funny," also pokes fun at Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson and other celebrities. Of course, Marshall Mathers is unperturbed, because he subscribes to the principle that "all publicity is good publicity," so causing controversy is one of his aims. His new album Relapse is due to drop in a month, so he's going to be around a lot this summer. Vibe magazine has confirmed that Em will judge their "No.1 Stan" rap contest, while MTV say he will perform live at their Movie Awards on May 31. Should Britney, Jessica or any of his other latest targets be in attendance, their awkward looks as he performs should make for interesting viewing.
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Eminem
Mar, 11 2009
It’s been four years since his last album, and the delay has allowed many to speculate that Eminem's probably gone off the boil by now. In September he scrapped much of the work he’d already done on his new album, which suggested he might be struggling to heat up again, and hopes for a Christmas release of anything other than his autobiography The Way I Am were dashed. However, stalwart Slim Shady fans can look forward to a double pay-out for their patience, with the May 19 release of Relapse and the promise of a Relapse 2 release at some point later this year. As Em says “We were on such a roll; we wound up with a ton of new music produced by Dre. Putting out Relapse 2 will let everyone get all of the best stuff.” But wouldn't he put his best stuff on the first Relapse? Or has he gathered so much great material in six months that it couldn't possibly fit on one CD? We'd be happier with one awesome new Eminem album than two which weren't quite so good; so choose carefully Marshall, and remember to leave something aside for B-sides and bonus discs.
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Eminem
Oct, 22 2008
The comeback of one of the biggest stars in hip-hop history is due before Christmas, as Eminem's new album Relapse and a forthcoming autobiography, The Way I Am (released Oct 21), combine to bring Marshall Mathers back to the world's attention. He's had a tough few years, becoming reclusive after the death of close friend Proof, and putting on a lot of weight amidst rumors of health trouble. Reception for the first leaked track “I’m Having a Relapse” has been patchy, and with his last album Encore being the least-loved of them all, some are questioning whether this comeback is a good idea. Can a 36-year old Eminem retain his highly immature persona and still be funny? Or perhaps he can somehow mature without losing the edge that made him so popular in the first place? Just two weeks ago Vibe Magazine voted him "The Greatest Rapper Alive," but that's mostly based on his first three albums, which seem like a long time ago now. Despite all the acclaim and success he's had up til now, it seems Eminem still has doubters to prove wrong.
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Eminem
Sep, 18 2008
It’s been four long years since Eminem’s last studio album, and most fans didn't expect him to ever come back after he called that record Encore and his 2005 hits compilation Curtain Call. But recently hopes have been rising that a new album might be on the horizon, and Eminem has confirmed he's working on new solo material. Don't expect it too soon though, according to collaborator 50 Cent. Fiddy told a BBC radio show that Em has scrapped much of the work he’s already done: "He's got to feel like it's just happened, it's new and it's current. That's just how he is creatively as an artist." So it's likely to be 2009 before the curtains will be raised once more for Slim Shady's second encore.
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![Relapse: Refill [Clean]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/614A6aule4L._SS105_.jpg "Relapse: Refill [Clean]")
