T.I. premieres another track called, “No Mercy”. In this video, he shares the screen with The-Dream.
The song is taken from T.I.‘s next studio installment of the same name ‘No Mercy’ which is set to come out on December 7, while he is still staying behind bars. The music video is not merely to promote his music but also to keep himself visible on TV while he is in jail.
Beside welcoming the release of his seventh studio album, T.I. also has two Grammy nominations to celebrate. He is nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance for his comeback single “I’m Back” and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for his part in Drake‘s “Fancy” which also features Swizz Beatz.
Here is a new track by Nicki Minaj titled, ” Roman’s Revenge” in which features none other than Eminem. Both artists dedicate some words to their critics over the Swizz Beatz-produced beat. The track will appear on Minaj’s much anticipated album ‘Pink Friday’, which is due November 22nd.
Alicia Keys is not only a singer, she is also a new mommy, and an HIV/AIDS Activist. She is well known for her charity work, such as her Keep A Child Alive organization, which is dedicated to providing assistance and support to children and those who are infected by HIV/AIDS in Africa, as well as India.
The Buy Life Campaign is about buying life to give life to millions of people affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India. The charity provides medicine, food and shelter needed to fight the disease.
Alicia Keys signed on her husband Swizz Beatz as well as a few of her fellow friends like Kim Kardashian, Ryan Seacrest, Usher, Katie Holmes, Jay Sean, Jaden & Willow Smith, Serena Williams and many many more, to support the “Buy Life” campaign.
As stated on their website:
“It’s the one purchase nobody can live without. It’s Life. When you buy life, you give life to millions of people affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India by providing the medicine, food and shelter needed to fight this awful disease.
There is a profound difference between living and life. Living may extend time for another day. But life is far more than sleeping and waking. Life is more than merely existing. And, although it would be easier, life cannot be bought in a pill.That is why Keep A Child Alive buys more than just the pills needed to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa and India. It buys the essential nutrition, shelter, support and education to help ensure those pills are taken properly and effectively. It buys the things we all take for granted, but that make all the difference. A bed. A roof. A ride. A book. A smile. KCA offers children, their families and entire communities a shoulder to lean on and a heart that beats for them. Because KCA believes we can do something far bigger and better than buy the ability to live. We can buy the dignity that is life. We can buy compassion. Buy love. Buy the cure. Buy life. Because the more you buy, the more you save. KEEP A CHILD ALIVE.”
Check out the photos of those who are involved with the Buy Life Campaign:
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The shirts that these celebrities are rocking aren’t just a message or fashion. They might look simple, but as you can see, they all have scannable barcodes. These shirts serve an even bigger purpose, because they’re scannable, by purchasing a “Buy Life” tee, you can become a walking charity box with your own, scannable BUY LIFE American Apparel Unisex T-Shirt. This shirt can be scanned using the Stickybits or Wimo app and will allow yourself and others to donate to the Keep A Child Alive foundation (Note: If you own a smart phone, you can order one via your phone), by simply scanning the t-shirt with your smart phone (Blackberry, iPhone, etc.).
The following is written on the back: “This Shirt Fights AIDS – Scan the barcode or Text ‘BUYLIFE’ to 90999 to Join the Fight.”
“It’s the one purchase nobody can live without. It’s Life. When you buy life, you give life to millions of people affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India by providing the medicine, food and shelter needed to fight this awful disease.
Whenever you see a “BUY LIFE” bar code, simply scan it using Stickybits or WiMO and instantly make the purchase of a lifetime.
You can also purchase a fully scannable “BUY LIFE” t-shirt and invite others to buy life wherever you go. This shirt not only looks good, but every scan does the world good.”
You can also purchase a tote bag…
Rock this Buy Life tote bag that can also be scanned with the Stickybits or Wimo app which will also allow people to give to Keep a Child Alive.
Check out the details and how to participate in the initiative by visiting the BUY LIFE website at BuyLife.org.
Alica Keys and Swizz Beatz are the proud parents of a brand new baby boy.
Keys and husband Beatz (real name: Kaseem Dean) “joyfully welcomed their first child, a son named, Egypt Daoud Dean on Thursday, Oct. 14 in New York City,” said a rep, speaking to People magazine.
Keys and Beatz were recently married a few months ago (Saturday, July 31st), in a private ceremony on the Mediterranean coast in July.
The child is the first for Keys, and the fourth for Beatz. Swizz took it to his fans via Twitter on Thursday evening, and gave thanks for his family, by saying, “I’m so thankful for everything I been blessed with in my life.”
Congrats to the happy couple!
See more Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz pictures below…
Kanye West announced the official album title on Tuesday morning (October 5) via his Twitter. The name has been floating around for some time in various rumor reports and blog postings, but in the shorter iteration of ‘Dark Twisted Fantasy’.
“The first song on the album is called “Dark Fantasy” produced by the RZA, co-produced by me and No I.D.” West added. “I ain’t letting no leaks have any [effect] on my song choices… “All of the Lights” is the next single, but wait till y’all hear the final!”
On Monday, West also confirmed the album’s release date, November 22. The project will arrive a day before Nicki Minaj‘s debut, ‘Pink Friday,’ and a number of other albums getting a jumpstart on the holiday shopping season.
The first two singles from ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ have already been released, “Power” and “Runaway,” featuring Pusha T.
Another track scheduled to appear on the project, “Lost in the World,” leaked online last week, leading West to announce he was canceling his weekly free “G.O.O.D. Fridays” music offering. But by Friday night, he recanted and delivered the sartorial “Christian Dior Denim Flow,” featuring John Legend, Kid Cudi, Pusha T, Lloyd Banks and Ryan Leslie.
On Tuesday, West also assured fans of the G.O.O.D offerings that some of those songs would be included on the album too.
In other news….
Kanye West’s ‘Runaway’ London Screening Was A ‘Mad Event’
After showing ‘surreal’ film, West stuck around for two hours of Q&A, MTV UK reporter says. Kanye West invited a very select group of about 100 journalists and bloggers to the Wednesday-night London screening of his 35-minute art film for the song “Runaway.” Among them was MTV UK reporter Tom Thorogood, who got on the phone on Thursday morning (October 7) to talk about the typically over-the-top audience with the Louis Vuitton Don.
“It was a mad event,” Thorogood said of the screening, which included a rambling two-hour Q&A session during which West took any and all questions about the film and his upcoming albums. “Halfway through, an American guy from his label asked for one last question and just as the person asked it, Kanye said, ‘Why is this the last question?’ and said he was happy to talk as long as people wanted him to.”
Thorogood said there are perhaps only two dozen words spoken in the “ambitious … great looking” 35-minute art movie, whose narrative he described as “very loose and abstract.” If anything, he suspected it could be chopped up into five separate mind-bending music videos, though it only uses heavily altered snippets of West‘s music that are quite different from the versions of such songs as “Monster,” “Runaway” and the Bon Iver-sampling “Lost in the World” that fans have heard so far.
“It opens with shots of Kanye in a sports car and slow motion shots of deer and then you see a huge explosion and you see he’s crashed into the Phoenix,” said Thorogood of the other star of the film, model Selita Ebanks, who plays the Phoenix and who has been seen on ‘Ye’s arm at events lately. “He picks her up in his arms and walks away from the car which explodes behind him.” The title of the film then flashes on the screen and the first voice you hear is a snippet of Nicki Minaj‘s English-accented rhyme from “Monster.”
In another scene, Thorogood said you hear a brief bit of “Power,” which Kanye taps out on the same kind of MPC drum machine he played on both the VMAs and on “Saturday Night Live.” The three- to four-minute bit features Ebanks silently dancing around West as the song plays. “It was quite clear that [the movie is about] what he said about this before being about his story … a representation of his career,” Thorogood said.
And in a setup cued to the new song “Lights” that is likely to be the most iconic of the film, Thorogood said Kanye (a.k.a. “Griffin”) and the Phoenix watch as a marching band stomps across the screen carrying a giant, somewhat flimsy-looking papier-mâché model of Michael Jackson‘s head.
“With the passing of Michael Jackson, I feel a responsibility to bring things to our generation that can inspire and bring real culture to pop culture,” West told the audience in London about the film shot over four grueling days in Prague last month. “I want to use my power in a proper way.”
In another pivotal scene, West and the Phoenix arrive for a formal dinner at a huge table and are given weird looks by their fellow diners, one of whom asks, “Why didn’t you leave the monkey in the zoo?”
Thorogood said the film had French subtitles for the sparse dialogue, which were likely a holdover from Tuesday night’s screening in Paris, since West said the version he showed in London was still a rough cut. Among the other new songs featured in the movie is one called “Blame Game,” which contains a healthy sample of the melancholy piano groove in cult electronic musician Aphex Twin‘s 2001 song “Avril 14th,” as well as vocals from frequent ‘Ye collaborator John Legend, which the rapper said may or may not make the final cut of the album.
West introduced the film to his London audience by saying, ” ‘Purple Rain,’ [Pink Floyd’s] ‘The Wall,’ Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ — I wanted to do a modern version of that.” He also said that about “90 percent” of the music featured in the film appears on his upcoming fifth album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, due out on November 22.
Plus….
Kanye West Adds M.I.A., La Roux And Alicia Keys To Album, ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,’ which might also feature Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Mos Def and Santigold.
It was the court of the Crimson King (remember the red suit at the VMAs?) on Wednesday in London as Kanye West spoke to a select group of journalists and bloggers about his upcoming “Runaway” mini-movie and accompanying album, ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,’ due out November 22.
In addition to screening the nearly wordless, trippy fantasia on the high prices of fame and individuality, ‘Ye also dropped some information on a number of the collaborators he’s got lined up for the album. According to our colleague Tom Thorogood of MTV UK, during a rambling two-hour Q&A session, West mentioned that he’s been in the studio with everyone from Alicia Keys to M.I.A., Kid Cudi, Mos Def and Santigold working on tracks for Fantasy.
He also confirmed that Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon is “all over” the album, a fact we already learned when a demo of “Lost in the World” recently leaked, which features re-recorded vocals from the BI track “Woods.” The pair reportedly recorded at least nine tracks together, and West has said Vernon is slated to appear on multiple songs.
Among the other new tracks featured in the movie is “Blame Game,” which contains a healthy sample of the melancholy piano groove in cult electronic musician Aphex Twin’s 2001 song “Avril 14th,” as well as vocals from frequent ‘Ye collaborator John Legend, which may or may not make the album’s final cut. Other collaborators who’ve dropped in on sessions include Wu-Tang mastermind RZA and hip-hop icon Pete Rock.
NME also reports that West said the album could feature vocals from La Roux‘s flame-haired frontwoman, Elly Jackson, as well as Chicago hip-hop don producer No ID.
‘Ye also said he’s traveling back to France soon — he debuted the film there Tuesday — to finish work on his mini-album with Jay-Z, ‘Watch the Throne’.
And, in typically epic Kanye fashion, the Chicago MC said he’s planning a spectacular live show for the “Fantasy tour”, which he wants to wind up in front of the Egyptian pyramids. Unfortunately, he told the crowd, they’re not available until April.
Which Kanye collabo are you most excited about?
Listen to Kanye West ft. Drake – “All Of The Lights (Ghetto University)” below….
Even the heavy New York City winds couldn’t dim the star power at Keep a Child Alive’s 7th Annual Black Ball at Hammerstein Ballroom on Thursday night (Sept. 30). The star-studded charity gala, which raised money for HIV/AIDS treatment, featured appearances and performances by Sade, Whitney Houston, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Usher, Swizz Beatz, Jennifer Hudson, Janelle Monáe, and more.
The belle of the ball, host Alicia Keys, lived out her dream by singing with Sade. “It was the most difficult thing I ever had to do in my life, to try to pick one song,” revealed the pregnant songstress, who finally decided upon “Love Is Stronger Than Pride.” “I lost sleep over it actually.”
Janelle Monáe gained new fans with her “Tightrope” walking and Swizz Beatz joined Jay-Z for “On to the Next One,” as his pretty in pink wife looked on. Alicia helped Jay cap the evening in their hometown by channeling Frank Sinatra with an impromptu performance of “New York, New York,” before closing with “Empire State of Mind.”
Keep a Child Alive charity brought in a little over $2.4 million for children and families affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India.
Check out some more photos and a few videos from the event below….
Alicia Keys & Sade – Love is Stronger Than Pride – Keep A Child Alive Black Ball 2010.
Sade – Soldier of Love (Keep A Child Alive Black Ball 2010 )
Alicia Keys & Jay-Z Perform Sinatra At annual Black Ball 9-30-10
Kanye West has kept this whole “G.O.O.D. Friday” thing going? This week, West has again linked up with Jay-Z, Pusha T, Swizz Beatz, RZA, and Cyhi da Prince. It makes for yet another near-epic filled with some choice quotables, especially during Jay-Z and Pusha‘s verses, and slightly blunted, gloomy production. Swizz doesn’t do much other than the intro and outro sections of the track. Unfortunately, RZA, who sounds great on this beat, finds his contribution kept to a minimum, too, though Cyhi going off in his verse kind of makes up for that.
According to sources, Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz celebrated their new marriage Saturday, July 31st during an intimate ceremony aboard a 260-foot yacht on the Mediterranean Sea in Southern Corsica, Piantarella, which is located a few kilometers from Bonifacioon. Well according to People.com, there was no yacht or over-the-top festivities – just family and close friends as Alicia and Beatz tied the knot in a private ceremony Saturday in a private home on the Mediterranean Sea.
Alicia wore a Grecian-inspired Vera Wang dress; shoes with no heel designed exclusively for her by Christian Louboutin, a diamond tiara and carried a bouquet of purple calla lilies. Beatz looked handsome he was decked out in a Tom Ford tuxedo. The couple’s friend Dr. Deepak Chopra presided over the nuptials.
The couple, who are also expecting their first child together, have been together since fall 2008. They announced their engagement and baby news in May.
It’s the first marriage for Keys, 29, and the couple’s first child together: Beatz (real name: Kasseem Dean, 31) has two sons, Kasseem Jr., 3, and son Prince Nasir, 9, from previous relationships.
While the newlyweds don’t know the gender of their baby, Beatz says the addition of another child will be nothing short of magical.
“Whatever we’re blessed with, that baby is being born to blessed parents,” he recently told People. “Alicia is definitely one of those great parents-to-be. She’s super ready. Super glowing. Super happy.”
The news comes just a day after T.I. tied the knot with his longtime girlfriend, Tameka “Tiny” Cottell in Miami Beach, Florida.
Check out some photos below of Alicia & Swizz’s wedding…
That’s right, you heard correctly. According to our friends at MediaTakeOut, it’s official! Swizz Beatz and the beautiful Alicia Keys are getting married this weekend! They are finally making it official after over seven months of engagement. The festivities will be held on a 200 ft. yacht they have chartered for the wedding’s pre-party. Guests will be whisked away in Miami, and then taken to the Caribbean for the romantic official wedding. Some celebrity guests include Oprah Winfrey, Jay-Z, Beyonce’, Diddy, Tyra Banks, Mary J Blige and many more.
This will be the wedding of the year…a grand spectacle magnificence.
JNEL & J. Magazine 
