AKA Casanova Black
From young struggling artist to record label executive, J Hollins has come a long way since his days singing with a vocal band in his hometown of Chicago. Since 2004, his dashed dreams of chasing major label heaven have been replaced by climbing the independent music ladder with his Block Bleeders Entertainment (BBE) imprint. BBE […]
Conquer
Picture it: Dallas, TX, early spring in the year 2000. Hip-hop legend and part-time turntablist-extraordinaire Biz Markie was flexing on the ones and twos, announcing to a hyped crowd that he was about to drop some new music from the Bad Boy label by a Chi-Town artist named Carl Thomas. I took it as my […]
No Goodbyes
Some artists reject the label of “inspirational” or “positive” artist. Being marked as a “conscious” artist is not all that good for sales these days. Inohs Sivad, however, seems to embrace the tag. Her previous record, Changes, contained several tracks that could be considered inspirational – “Brown Eyed Susan” and “Out of the Barrel” come […]
One Voice
The songs on One Voice, Micah Stampley’s latest album, all have those great hooks that are destined to be sung during praise and worship services in churches across America. That is definitely the case for “Overcome.” The youth will love the Florida Seminole-like war cry that opens up the energetic “Hosanna.” Praise leaders know how […]
The Wayman Tisdale Story (CD/DVD)
The cynical response would have been to dismiss Wayman Tisdale as a vanity artist when he released Power Forward, his appropriately titled debut album in 1995. And I’m sure that more than a few people who did not know about Tisdale’s background likely viewed Tisdale as Shaquille O’Neal with an electric bass. Shaq fancies himself […]
The Good, The Bad, And The Sexy
He’s charismatic, chiseled from dark chocolate, has a voice that melts women into their stilettos (witness his swag in person and take your lady….if you dare) and is versatile enough to deliver cool club bangers and sexy soul songs with street cred and sex appeal. Joe Thomas, as a proven hit-making veteran with almost two decades of steady success […]
Persuasions of the Dead
I can’t say that I’m a “Dead Head.” I mean, I knew that The Grateful Dead was a band fronted by Jerry Garcia. They were active from the 1960s until the mid 1990s when Garcia died and the group disbanded. Their fans – known as The Dead Heads – loved the Bay Area based band […]
From The Heart
The artists who achieved success on the BET show Sunday Best are starting to take the next step in the advancement of their careers. The winners of the first three seasons have released new projects. When a contestant reaches the final rounds of a competition like Sunday Best, it’s clear that he or she is […]
Those Who Wait
It is the best debut of the year. A strong declaration, but it doesn’t make it any less true. The twenty-two year old wunderkind from Manchester, England has been in a state of refining and polishing his flawless and varied instrument for the last couple of years, seemingly appearing out of nowhere when he burst […]
Power Of The Trinity
Tomas Doncker’s fierce hunger in his songwriting abilities, musicality and independent artistry has produced a fruitful and fascinating musical path. With over twenty years invested in the progressive New York City ‘No Wave’ movement, his guitar contributions with bands that encompassed blues/funk (Defunkt) and punk/jazz (James Chance & The Contortions) was just a glimpse of […]
