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B-Sides Report for 10/12/2015



Will Smith Had Secret Verse For Kanye West

(Radio.com) DJ Jazzy Jeff and the artist formerly known as the Fresh Prince, Will Smith, are on track to record new music and hit the road to spread fun and freshness to the world. But while fans await the new tracks, Jeff recently spoke about a Will verse that never saw the light of day.

"Will did a verse off of [Kanye West's] 'Clique' when it first came out," Jeff told Rolling Stone in a recent interview. "He rapped it for me and it was huge. And I looked at him and said, 'Why didn't you put that out?' And he just looked at me. I'm like, 'Wait, you wrote an incredible verse off of a really popular song. That is what they do! Just drop it!' But he just sat on it."

Despite the missed opportunity, fans of Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince will have a chance to hear more music from the duo soon. Smith told Zane Lowe earlier this week that the duo has plans to record new music and go on a world tour.

"Will's been recording," Jeff said, before going on to explain how technology makes the process more convenient. Read more here.

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One Direction Confirms Leaked Single Details

(Radio.com) A member of One Direction confirmed the title of the UK boyband's next single after the news of the song's title was leaked by an online music retailer.

Digital Spy reports that Apple accidentally announced the band's new song title ahead of time when they tweeted, 'The next track off #MadeInTheAM is #Perfect."

The post was later deleted, but not before it was viewed by Directioners everywhere. Realizing the beans had officially been spilled, Liam Payne took to Twitter to confirm the news. Read more here.

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Britney Spears Back In The Recording Studio

(Radio.com) Is new music from Britney Spears closer than we think? In a recent twitter Q&A with fans Spears claimed to have new music in the works, but now we have visual evidence.

The singer took to twitter late last week to post a picture with the caption "Making magic in the studio yesterday!" The photo shows Britney with an English record producer BURNS and songwriter/producer Mischke who has written tracks for Michael Jackson, Trey Songz, Jennifer Lopez and more.

Spears' last album Britney Jean was released in November of 2013. "Making magic in the studio yesterday! http://t.co/ndnaqbzHGd- Britney Spears (@britneyspears) October 09, 2015" See the photo here.

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Ice Cube Reacts To N.W.A 'Rock' Hall Nomination

(Radio.com) N.W.A has been passed over three previous times for induction into the 'Rock and Roll' Hall of Fame, but Ice Cube says he's still "humbled" by the latest nomination.

"I am humbled by the nomination and recognition of N.W.A's contribution to music and culture by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame," Ice Cube said in a statement to New York Daily News.

"It has been an incredible year for us as a group, for our loyal fans and in helping us to all keep Eazy-E's memory alive." The group's legacy was helped by the N.W.A biopic, Straight Outta Compton. Read more here.

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Taylor Swift Was Heartbroken Over 'Red' Grammy Loss

(Radio.com) Taylor Swift sat for an intimate talk about how the pain of losing the Album of the Year GRAMMY for Red, fueled her musical choices on 1989. In the interview with Grammy Pro, Swift tracked her path to 1989, which included the struggles to convince her label to allow her to work with demo producer Nathan Chatman on her self-titled debut, to her work with Swedish hit maker Max Martin on Red.

And while she had won the Album of the Year GRAMMY for her sophomore set, Fearless, in 2010, she was still bummed when she was passed over in 2014 for her Red.

"Everybody comes up to you and they're like, 'You got it, you're going to win.' And I wish they wouldn't do that. 'Cause you don't know if you're going to win because someone else could very well win and someone else very well did," she said.

"I remember not going to after-parties, I went home and I cried a little bit, and I got In-N-Out Burger and ate a lot." Read more here.

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Justin Bieber Reveals 'Purpose' Cover Art

(Radio.com) Justin Bieber has revealed the album artwork for his album Purpose via Instagram. The pop star combined nine posts to create the full album artwork, which was created by famed Los Angeles street artist Retna, who's work often consists of hieroglyphic-like ancient style calligraphy. After giving fans time to patch the nine pictures together to form the entire cover.

It's no surprise that the artist was chosen to create the album art. With Bieber being an LA resident, it's hard to avoid Retna's work around the streets of Hollywood.

Retna has created art for Nike, Louis Vuitton, Helmut Lang and even used his typographical skills to dress up the rear tail of a jet plane as part of a Vista Jet unveiling. Bieber posted the completed cover in three color-ways as shown here.

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Selena Gomez Talks New Album 'Revival'

(Radio.com) Selena Gomez released her new album Revival on Friday (Oct 9) and Radio.com sat down with the singer to discuss the new album, her growth as an artist, and why she's more confident ever.

"I'm a huge fan of hip hop/urban [music]," says the singer. "That's just kind of my taste. I think that's my natural direction. When I was recording the whole album everything I was doing and writing or even recording, it was all mid tempo. I was drawn to that I guess, and I think now more than ever I'm more comfortable and confident going into the studio and knowing what my vision is."

The singer also reflected on her early career, and the perspective she's gained with age. "I think music started off as something fun for me. When I was 16 I released a song called 'Who Says' and that's still one of my favorite songs I've ever recorded, because of the message. I know how many girls could put that song on and just feel good about themselves, and that meant a lot to me. I feel like I've lived enough life and I have a right to say and speak my mind about my personal experiences."

"I think this album is definitely intimate," she says "but it's even not necessarily about the obvious things. It's about people being mean to each other, it's like moments of spirituality. Stuff that I myself am discovering and figuring out about the world." Read more here.

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Jennifer Hudson Reflects On Personal Tragedy Discussing New Film

(Radio.com) When Jennifer Hudson recently spoke with Glamour Magazine about her upcoming role in Spike Lee's Chiraq, due out in December, talk of the movie inevitably turned to talk of her own loss.

"Chiraq" is a slang term that characterizes Chicago's South Side and the extreme, almost war-zone-like violence that occurs there nightly. In Chiraq, Hudson plays a mother whose daughter is killed by a stray bullet.

During one moment of filming, Hudson found that art connected with real life in a powerful way for her. "There's a scene where we're all holding up boards with [photos of] our slain children on them," she said. "I turned around, and it's a sea of real women [as extras] holding pictures of children they actually lost. I'm a character holding a picture of a little girl, but in real life I have the same story."

That "same story" pertains to the 2008 murders of her mother, brother and nephew in Chicago. Her sister's estranged husband shot all three. Hudson rarely addresses that, but told Glamour how upsetting it was to discuss it with people who hadn't experienced any kind of loss, let alone something so traumatic. "It's frustrating as hell to me to have somebody who ain't lost nothing try to talk to me about it," Hudson said. "I want to say, 'Don't even bother, because you know nothing.' But you never know how much you can get through until you're going through it." Read more here.

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Kanye West Surprises American Idol Auditions

(Radio.com) Kanye West left Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick, Jr. and Keith Urban in near hysterics Saturday when he surprised the cast and crew by walking out as a contestant during American Idol auditions in San Francisco.

Kim Kardashian revealed the surprise when she posted a photo taken of the in-studio monitor. The photo shows Lopez barely able to contain herself and Urban reeling back in his chair.

Ryan Seacrest then posted a photo of Kanye celebrating backstage as if Yeezy had won the chance to compete in the next round in Hollywood. Read more here.

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Toby Keith Gets More Diverse With 'Drunk Americans'

(Radio.com) Toby Keith's latest album, 35 MPH Town, was released Friday (October 9). And to longtime fans, the leadoff track, "Drunk Americans," may seem like it takes place at a familiar joint.

"It sounded like a waltz version of 'I Love This Bar,' just ten years removed," Keith told Radio.com over the phone yesterday. "It's got all the characters."

But where "I Love This Bar" had "Winners, we got losers/Chain smokers and boozers/And we got yuppies, we got bikers/We got thirsty hitchhikers," "Drunk Americans" is somewhat more diverse.

In that song, Keith sings, "We ain't East, we ain't West/We ain't left, we ain't right/We ain't black, we ain't white/We just came here to drink/We're all mud flap suburbans/All ball caps and turbans/All prom queens and strippers."

To Keith, the song also operates as a bookend to his post 9/11 hit, "Courtesy Of The Red, White, And Blue (The Angry American)" a song which he says he wrote in support of our troops who were being deployed to the Middle East. To this day, he seems surprised of the negative response he says he got from the press from that song. Read more here.

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Rihanna's 'ANTi' Album Cover Decoded By Nachum

(Radio.com) Artist Roy Nachum recently sat down with The Fader to discuss his artwork for Rihanna's forthcoming album ANITi. He disclosed that it is in fact a young Rihanna who graces the album's cover.

"Yes. She sent me a few pictures [of herself when she was young] and I just got inspired from that. It's not any exact picture that she sent me, it's a mix, kind of like a collage of a few pictures, just to get that look of that specific time and that specific age."

"The girl on the cover is to open people's eyes, in a way, to appreciate the small things in life. I can feel it myself--I feel like a kid with a crown over the eyes. It's personal to me, because I always go back to my childhood, and I feel that when you're young, that you're not exposed in a way. In that moment, it's something very real and very free, in a way. So I really like that age." See it here.

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Harry Nilsson Fans Release 'Put Harry in the Hall' Video

(Radio.com) Fans of 70's rock icon Harry Nilsson have stepped up to write and record a song titled 'Put Harry in the Hall" as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame reveal the latest nominations.

Back on Aug. 10, 2015, more than 30 professional musicians, actors, artists, friends, fans and Harry Nilsson's family members gathered to record a song to 'sing him into his rightful place at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame." The behind-the-scenes video of the recording of the song, which is posted on YouTube, honors the late-singer and songwriter beautifully.

Nilsson released 16 albums including a few film soundtracks like 1974's Son of Dracula and Robin Williams' 1980 film Popeye. He won two Grammy Awards including the Best Contemporary Vocals for the Fred Neil-written song 'Everybody's Talkin'" in 1970, which was featured on the soundtrack to the Oscar-winning 1969 film Midnight Cowboy. He passed away from a heart attack in 1994.

According to Newser, on top of winning the two aforementioned Grammys, Nillsson wrote hits for Three Dog Night and The Monkees and was named-checked by The Beatles as their 'favorite group." David Leaf, who produced the documentary Who is Harry Nilsson (�and Why is Everybody Talkin' About Him)?, suggests that people don't know Nilsson because he didn't want them to. Read more and watch the video here.

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Young Thug Embracing Monogamy

(Radio.com) Young Thug recently spoke at length with The Guardian, the conversation covers many topics including monogamy and it's positive effect on his career.

'I have a girlfriend now, so no girls. I think all of those things make me more of an artist, though. If I didn't have a girlfriend, I'd have 10 girls at the studio and they would make me not rap. I'd be chilling and getting stoned. It's like, boom! - I've got a girlfriend. It turned out to be a good thing because it made me a rapper."

At one point during the interview Thug's fiancee Jerrika Karlae chimes in, apparently not upset by the term "girlfriend," that he is still pretty impulsive and spontaneous. Read about that here.

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Beyonce and Jay Z Buy 'The Big Lebowski' Mansion

(Radio.com) Celebrity couple Beyonce and Jay Z are now the proud new owners of the mansion used while filming The Big Lebowski, according to Entertainment Weekly.

In the film, the stately home belonged to eccentric, fictional millionaire Jeffrey Lebowski, he of the famed organization the Little Lebowski Urban Achievers. Watch a clip from the film below.

Last year, the mansion went on the market after its current owner, Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, decided it was time to move. Queen B and her husband put a bid on the property at the time, but a British billionaire snatched it out from under them. Read more here.

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Neil Young Announces 'Bluenote Cafe' Live Album

(Radio.com) In the 1980s, Neil Young put out a series of highly stylized albums, baffling fans, critics and radio programmers alike. There was the 1985's old-school country album Old Ways, 1981's Devo-esque Re-act-or, 1982's synth-based Trans and 1983's rockabilly romp Everybody's Rockin'.

He closed the era with 1988's This Note's For You, back by his horn fueled big band, the Bluenotes. On the tour, they notoriously baffled audiences by sticking to This Note's For You for most of the shows, augmenting that with unreleased material, but mostly ignoring his back catalog.

It's a collection of performances from that 1988 tour that makes up Young's next release in his "Performance Series," titled Bluenote Cafe. The album contains live versions of the songs from This Note's For You. Read more here.

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Singled Out: Che-Val's Love Still Waiting

Kenny and Laura Cash of the alt-pop husband and wife duo Che-Val tell us the story behind their latest single "Love Still Waiting", which will also be featured on their forthcoming EP "Gone Mad". Here is the story:

Kenny: Our track "Love Still Waiting," really originated a couple of years ago at a party at my studio, The Factory underground. While the party was going on a couple of friends of mine were hanging out. It was a family party and there were a couple of grandmas in the crowd. My friend J-Black, a relatively big black teenager at the time, decided to ask one of the small elderly ladies to dance. And they did all night. Everybody was just having fun so it inspired me to right a short fun track, originally with male falsetto vocals and 80's inspired synths.

Fast forward a couple of years later and my wife and I are in a writing session and I was most likely complaining about everybody talking about the same old stuff in their music. I probably said somethin like, "everybody talks about love or heartbreak, I want to hear something different about love like when you're waiting for me to get home from the studio," I'll let the wife take it from here.

Laura: Yep, Kenny was going on his musician rant about creativity and story line, when he mentioned about how I should write about me waiting for him to get home from the studio, since he knows that's a huge pet peeve of mine. My eyes immediately lit up when he said this! I am always complaining (Yes Kenny, I'll give you that, I said "always complaining") about how he is always running late at the studio, even though I work a half-hour cushion into my brain when he tells me what time he's coming home. I also always joke that I use this time to my advantage� like he'll catch me sneaking in an extra real housewives, an extra bag of Doritos, or a glass of wine. So I channeled all of that frustration (and humor) into our song "Love Still Waiting." I used Kenny's original 80s inspired dance track, and completely revamped both the lyrics and melody.

When doing our video, we knew we had to work in Kenny ignoring my calls. It's funny because it's true! I tell him that when I call or text him, I always envision him checking the phone to see who it is, and then when he sees its me, putting it back down (Yes Kenny, I'm on to you!! Haha). When I check my text messages, it's honestly like I have an imaginary friend and I'm talking to myself! It's the things you gotta deal with� and at the end of the day, the things you gotta laugh at� when you're married to a musician.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself as you watch the video here and learn more about the group right here!

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