A self-proclaimed product of his past, rapper Sean Kingston's history helps describe his sound. Born in Miami, FL, then raised in Kingston, Jamaica, from the age of six, he mixed more than a little dancehall and reggae into his hip-hop. The hard lyrics come from a hard life, which included incarceration, homelessness, and growing up a lot faster than he should have. His young parents didn't play teen pop or teen rap while he was being raised, so he absorbed the adult lyrics of Buju Banton, Ice Cube, and Rakim. He also lived the lyrics and landed a breaking-and-entering charge at age 11. Twenty-one days in jail, boot camp, and living in a car while his mother was incarcerated on an identity fraud rap all followed. None of it swayed the youth against hustling; it just pointed him in a different, more lucrative direction. Taking his ability to write rhymes and hooks, he started working Miami's talent show and showcase circuit hard, eventually sharing the stage with Pitbull, Ludacris, and Trick Daddy. Producer Jonathan "J.R." Rotem (Britney Spears, 50 Cent, Rihanna) caught his demo and signed the young rapper to his Beluga Heights record label right before the major-label bidding wars were to begin. The Sony imprint Epic won and introduced their new artist in the spring of 2007 with the single "Colors 2007" featuring the Game and Rick Ross. Although he sounded much older, Kingston was only 16 years old when the track landed. With his second single, "Beautiful Girls," he took a sample of Ben E. King's "Stand by Me" and twisted it into a huge hit. This more polished, smoother, and less hardcore stance suited the singer and figured heavily into his self-titled debut full-length.

@SeanKingston

What does the most acclaimed hip-hop artist in Canada do after reaching a new pinnacle of commercial success? In the case of the platinum-selling Enfield, Nova Scotia-based rapper Classified, the answer is return to his roots.

"The commercial success helped me reach a new audience, but when I went back into the studio after being on tour for 15 months, I just wanted to make something banging again," says Classified of what would become Handshakes and Middle Fingers, the hotly-anticipated follow-up to Self-Explanatory, the best-selling album of the rapper’s ten-year-career. "I love being able to spit for lots of new people, but what really got me hype when I started to think about writing this record, was to go back and drop another hip-hop album again."

Handshakes and Middle Fingers is a musical hip-hop album about balance. Through boom-bap beats, catchy choruses and dirty drums, Classified uses his unparalleled wit, lyrics and diction to examine the fine line between mainstream success and the underground. This is, without a doubt, the Classified album that fans have been waiting to hear.
“I’m adamant / I won’t become extravagant,” he raps on Classy, the album’s declarative opener, which sets the stage for the razor-sharp party that follows. Life is hard on Handshakes and Middle Fingers, but it’s not without its just rewards. Rock hard new songs like Passion, Run With Me and High Man find the artist at once both boastful and reflective, spitting about the balance between a family life where Classified is the proud father of two young daughters, and life on the road where he performs hundreds of dizzying sold-out shows a year. "Seems like the only reoccurring theme in my life is the ups and downs," says Classified, who was born Luke Boyd and has sold more than 70K records and been the recipient of 4 (nominated for 10) East Coast Music Awards. "I got new people out there now checking for me, but from being a rap star to getting old and from going out on the road partying to waking up hung-over, tired and missing my home, this album more than anything is about life being the gift and the curse."
Self-Explanatory, which was released in 2009 and featured the Juno-nominated hits Anybody, Listening and Oh, Canada, was an adventurous concept album that allowed the listener to pick the record’s sequence of events. Heads were instructed to skip ahead tracks dependent upon their mood, and the album’s novel concept coupled with Classified’s flare for writing great pop hooks, introduced the proudly East Coast artist to a new generation of MuchMusic fans. After a decade of touring and independently releasing his music, the artist suddenly found himself sharing a Juno stage with Justin Bieber and Drake.

"I like to make music that feels good, something that someone who listens to top-40 would like, but I’m always going to have lyrics that say something," says Classified, author of the classic albums Boy Cott-in the Industry (2006) and Hitch Hikin’ Music (2007). "At the end of the day,” says Classified, “As an artist, my lyrics are who I am."

Classified released his first album Union Dues in 2001, and has maintained his status as a critically-revered trailblazer throughout his decade-long music career. He’s recorded with everyone from Maestro Fresh Wes to Joel Plaskett and only signed with a major label on his last disc. “I feel like the new record is a big jump for me musically, and it also features my illest flows,” Class says.

A musician who not only writes his own rhymes, but has been making his own beats since Kanye West was attending college, Classified says the melodies on his new 15-track album represents the growth of a musician being exposed and open to new things. “I used to think if you put synths on an album, that’s some techno s--t,” he says with a laugh, and then adds that the new disc features horns and live drumming for the first time on a Classified disc. "I’m not stuck in one corner and on this album, I was really able to try something new," he says. "Sometimes when I’d be alone in my studio, it was almost like I was trying to go too far."

The results are a clear-cut blow across an industry where Classified has spent a decade paying his dues. Dealing with subject matter from his wife’s recent birth of their second daughter to the controversy that flared up surrounding the Oh, Canada video where it was suggested that not enough African-Canadians appeared in the clip, Classified doesn’t shy away from any topics. He raps about everything on the new disc.
"In the end, all I have is my own personal story," says Classified, who mentions that the director of the Oh, Canada video was an African-Canadian female, and the clip consisted simply of whoever showed up on the day of the Halifax shoot.
"I don’t have anything to hide," says Class, who recently built a new studio behind the garage of his home in Enfield, located just 15-minutes away from the house where he was born. "If people listen to the record and hear my point of view, they’ll get where I’m coming from...if not, I can’t really be worried about that. I know who I am."

Knowing who he is another big theme on the record. An artist first and foremost, Classified skipped the obvious move for a big dog in Canadian hip-hop -- calling in an American artist for a big-name collaboration -- and instead found his inspiration closer to home. “I met Jim Cuddy from Blue Rodeo at the Juno Cup hockey game, and we decided to get together on a track,” says Classified of what would become The Sweetest Hangover, a melodic spitfire country rock rap song about the pleasure and pain of a life on the road. “He’s a great guy and someone I’d been wanting to work with. Once we had him on the track, I knew we had heat.”
Heat is something Classified has been generating for his entire career and Handshakes and Middle Fingers is the result of that flame. The artist has been on tour with Nas and The WuTang Clan and performed for millions of fans all around the world. A label owner and producer always on the lookout for new artists -- his most recent signing is an artist from St. Lucia named KaYo who will be releasing his debut record this year -- Classified is hyper-aware of his place in the industry. “I didn’t want to come with any crazy concept for this album, but in the end, I think it’s the most musical thing I’ve done,” he says. “I think I made something that the new fans will appreciate, but the most important thing is that I know I made something that the heads will be like: This is dope!”

Classified has been in the game for a minute, and he never sold-out, and never changed who he is. He sees the success of Kardinal and Drake and knows that Canadian hip-hop music is suddenly finding itself in the limelight again. As a member of the rap underground who’s fought hard to achieve mainstream notoriety, Classified knows the pressure was on for him to repeat the Self-Explanatory success. With eyes on the musician from all over the world and the stakes rising as his family expands, Classified took to the studio behind his house, smoked something, turned the drums up and told the world how he feels.
"I still live in the same town where I grew up, I still have the same friends, and I still listen to the same music that I once did," says Classified. "I didn’t get involved with any of this to become a rap star. I’m more about a hard-hitting beat and lyrics than ever wanting to become a celebrity."

With Handshakes and Middle Fingers, Classified might just prove that he’s able to do both things.

Twenty One Pilots is a pop duo formed in 2009 by high school friends Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun. The pair built an enormous regional following across Ohio and the midwest, spurned on by constant energetic touring as well as shrewd use of interactive social media and reaching out to fans on a grassroots level. The group self-released two albums of their rap-infused high tech pop, twenty | one | pilots in 2010 and Regional at Best in 2011. The group also gained popularity through publicly releasing a series of videos made by their friend Mark Eshelman. In 2012, the group signed to Atlantic Records subsidiary Fueled by Ramen, releasing the Three Songs EP in the summer of that year and working with Adele producer Greg Wells on their debut album for the label Vessel. Vessel saw release in January of 2013 and the band had international touring scheduled deep into the year in its support.

@twentyonepilots on Twitter

Australia's dance troupe Justice Crew is proof that dreams can happen. From humble beginnings in Sydney's western suburbs, the seven member outfit became one of 2010's hottest talking points when they won "Australia's Got Talent". With the series win, they collected the $250,000 victor's prize cheque and a contract with Sony Music.

"Winning the competition was like a dream come true" explains Emmanuel "EMan" Rodriguez, the unofficial frontman of Justice Crew. "It was like a book which starts from where we came from, how Justice came together, how we entered the competition, and then winning the series. It was unreal that we made it so far. It just shows that if you work really hard, you'll get there." Taking out the competition is by no means the end of this story. The dancers split their windfall and have invested for the future – theirs and for other aspiring dancers.

The troupe tipped cash into a band fund and invested in Justice Academy Inc, a program which helps disadvantaged young Australians work on their confidence, self-expression and team-building skills by hosting free dance workshops and classes.

All seven members are hands-on at the Justice Academy, which uses music and dance to empower future generations. Age is no barrier. In 2010, the Academy's 5- 9 year old graduates competed in the 2010 LA World Hip Hop competition under the name "Little Justice".

"Our goal is to get the Academy running so it's a full-time course where kids can actually get a certificate out of it and learn life skills" says Rodriguez. "We want to prove that dancing for Australians can be a career."

The seven hip hoppers come from diverse backgrounds, with dancing the coming thread. They met through dance circles in their late teens and in early 2009 became "Justice Crew" under the mentorship of New Zealand-born dance veteran Maurice June.

"They're very talented. They're the best in the country at what they do both as individuals and as an example to others" says June.

Initially, the "supercrew" was a larger team. Over time, the group whittled down to the current seven, a squad of individuals who connect on many levels. In 2009, the team entered into the World Hip Hop Dance Championships in Las Vegas, finishing a credible 14th. A bigger finish would come when on June 15, 2010, the crew made it all the way in "Australia's Got Talent."

Sony Music released Justice Crew's debut single "And Then We Dance" on August 27, and will issue a full-length DVD in late September. Plans are to tour the act nationally, and in time internationally. "When you look at the journey, from where they've come to where they are now" notes June, "they're not scared of anything."
 

INTRODUCING... THE CREW

Emmanuel "EMan" Rodriguez
A specialist in breakdancing and on-stage acrobatics.
Rodriguez is no stranger to the big occasion. Australian audiences will recognize this upbeat entertainer for his captivating performances in the 2009 series of "So You Think You Can Dance Australia." where he placed in the final 20. A born performer with a touch of a cheeky side, Rodriguez can hold his own on any stage.

Samson Cosray Smith
Like his namesake, the New Zealand-born breakdancer has power in spades. He's the head-spin king in the group, who carries a smooth-ness into his performances. His silky skills were showcased in "So You Think You Can Dance Australia."

Solo Tohi
A choreographer with a penchant for breakdancing and body-popping, Tohi is a creative force in the side. A New Zealander from Tongan and Tanzanian background, Tohi's ideas become the blue-prints for Justice Crew shows.

The Twins (Len John Ruela Pearce and John Len Ruela Pearce)
They're passionate, they're popping and they're improving at a frightening rate. The young guns in the pack, these brothers have only two-years of dancing under their belt and little technical background. These twins of Filipino and Australian heritage bring a raw-ness to the crew, an impressive knack for picking-up choreography and double the passion.

Paul Eric Merciadez
With his long hair and rat's tail, Merciadez is hard to miss. Looks can be deceiving. "He's so clean. He's like the polish you apply to your car" says Rodriguez. "You look at your car and think, ‘damn my car is so clean'. That's Pauly".

Lukas Wildrok
Breakdancer Wildrok is the all-rounder of the Crew with an appetite for rock music. He brings a touch of punk and emo, and each time he hits the stage, expect the unexpected. Another big-t

I’m going to operate on the assumption that the more you know about me, the better. Music has always been a big part of my life, but only my profession since American Idol. My earliest memories are listening to Top 40 radio while waiting for the bus to elementary school in Raleigh, North Carolina. Along with a few choice records from my parent’s collection (The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, ABBA, The Carpenters), 90s pop music guides my musical compass at a very basic level. My first CDs were Oasis’ “What’s the Story, Morning Glory,” Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill,” and Boyz II Men’s “II.”

Singing was always a hobby of mine—one I always worked at through choirs, high school musicals, and a cappella groups.  I don’t think I ever realized that I was actually good at it until my freshmen year of college. I got compliments, I never dropped an audition, but in college I got to step out on stage in front of 1500 people twice a year to perform with the UNC Clef Hangers.

 Those experiences of performing for a rabid audience of my peers, travelling the world, and leading the group really gave me a lot of confidence.

After college, my best friends and I were going our separate ways and decided that one last hurrah was in order. We took a road trip down to Kansas City to audition for Idol, and the rest is history. One round of auditions led to another, led to another, etc. until that 6^th place finish.

That experience was jarring for a couple reasons. First, as a recent college grad used to being respected by the people on my campus, that kind of national criticism was a rude awakening. It wasn’t the criticism per se, but the degree to which people felt free to talk about me as if I wasn’t a person. I read so many racist and insulting comments from people who had never met me in my life. Returning home was equally uncomfortable. I remember going home for a week between the show and tour rehearsals, feeling like it wasn’t home anymore. I couldn’t go to the grocery store without attention.  I didn’t like that because I honestly didn’t feel like I had earned that type of respect. I wasn’t happy with my performances on the show, and to be honest, I wasn’t truly happy with anything I did until the “3 Cheers” EP. It just felt contrived…like I was pandering to a bubblegum ideal that just wasn’t me at all. It was hard being on top of the world one day and literally not being able to get a call back from people you thought were your support structure the next. Add to that the fact that in the year after Idol, I was rejected by a girl I was crazy about, moved back in with my parents for a time, had a terrible two month eye infection, broke my ankle, gained some weight, andand I spent more money than I had trying to promote music that just wasn’t me. Things looked bleak.

About two years ago, without many contacts, a fading recognizability, and a novice level of songwriting prowess, I just started working from square one. Every day, I got up and worked at my craft whether it was networking, studying the industry, or writing. Honestly, it’s been lonely and it’s been hard. It’s taken some soul searching and perseverance. In the fall of 2011, I was driving back from a gig with my manager, Calvin, and we started talking about the future. I was unhappy with the kind of progress I was making and I felt that was because I was trying to make music that I didn’t really like.

I was chasing something. Call it a hit, or acceptance, or maybe legitimacy, but I was trying to find it the wrong way. I was hung up on this idea that a TV show created me, and I forgot about my musical influences and the songs and sounds that really defined me. I wasn’t seeking adventure in music, and was instead settling for what fit in.

We discussed a vision based on the type of music I was getting into at the time. Electronic and “vibey.” Visceral, engaging, and true to my abilities and myself.

That conversation started an upward trend. A few weeks after we spoke, I randomly connected with ADHD, a producer and DJ who had just moved back to Atlanta from Seattle. We ran into each other while I was touring a studio space and decided on the spot to start working together. The result is the “3 Cheers” EP. Combining my penchant for pop music, his deep background in the electronic scene, and my emerging love of artists like James Blake, Purity Ring, Little Dragon, Diplo, M83, Active Child, we continue to craft records based on our combined talents, our similar loves, and our dissimilar backgrounds. We fight about music all the time. But I think that’s what makes it work at the end of the day. There’s a creative struggle to find the best answer to the puzzle. Along the way, my writing for other artists has also taken a turn for the better. I now have several songs in the pipeline at major labels with a realistic goal of having my first major placement before summer ends.

This past fall, ADHD and I, along with the band Phive, toured the southeast on an X-BOX sponsored college tour to support “3 Cheers.” It was a blast and really let me know that the music we created is meant for great things. The energy at every single show was electric throughout, but at no time was it better than it was for the last song, “Love War.” It was almost like you could sense a change in brain chemistry when the song came on. Girls would jump on stage and start dancing; everyone was jumping with their hands in the air. As a performer, I know the difficulties of getting this reaction when your audience knows the song intimately. Later in the tour we started performing the song with live drums, electric guitar, and keys. It’s so perfect because the song and the EP as a whole wasn’t meant to be about the experience of being at a big DJ show but bringing the live pop element to it through my vocals and through the energy that I bring on stage. Adding these additional elements put the whole vision into sync. I love going to DJ and electronic shows, and, there’s a sense of camaraderie and total immersion in the music that I’ve only ever felt in that genre. That’s why it’s my home now. I feel, hear, smell, and think the music in those environments.

I’m so happy to know that Top 40 PDs and DJs are getting this vision. We’ve gotten great feedback on the record at this level, and I have such a strong team around me working it. Honestly, I couldn’t be happier that I was forced to struggle for these past couple years. It built character and I can be proud of the fact that I’m about to accomplish something I set out to do completely independently. I’m really happy to have y’all on the team to take this vision further and make “Love War” the raging success it can and should be!

@AnoopDoggDesai

Los Angeles indie electro unit Capital Cities first came together as a duo of composer/songwriters Ryan Merchant and Sebu Simonian. The two initially were both working as jingle writers and met on craigslist in 2011. Shortly after meeting the two released an EP online, which included the song "Safe and Sound," an upbeat mesh of programming and melody that went viral and gained the act a lot of Internet exposure. Eventually, Merchant and Simonian were joined by bassist Manny Quintero, trumpeter Spencer Ludwig, guitarist Nick Merwin, and drummer Channing Holmes. The fully realized live version of Capital Cities played festivals internationally, opening shows for Jane's Addiction, Asher Roth, and many others. A full-length was slated for release in 2013.

@capitalcities on Twitter

Jake Miller, born November 28, 1992, is an American rapper, singer, musician and songwriter from Weston, Florida. He is currently attending the University of Miami. In high school the multi-talented musician who taught himself to play the drums and guitar at a young age, put out a few homemade music videos on YouTube which immediately created a buzz and attracted the attention of music business insiders who began to guide Jake on his journey.

Jake’s very first live performance was in March 2011 when he opened for legendary rapper Snoop Dogg in Pompano Beach, Florida and shortly after he opened for rapper Mac Miller in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In May 2011, Jake won the Samsung & T-Mobile national "Kick it with the Band" competition designed to highlight some of the best music talent on the verge of stardom across the country. As the grand prize winner, Jake was awarded $35,000.00 for use towards his music career and a music video with YouTube sensation Keenan Cahill. In November 2011, Jake performed alongside Flo Rida, Sean Kingston and Asher Roth at the "Think Pink Rocks" concert in West Palm Beach, FL which is sponsored by Steve Rifkind and SRC Records. In December 2011, Jake took the stage at the annual Y-100 Jingle Ball concert where Cody Simpson and We the Kings also performed. On December 31, 2011, he rang in the New Year at the Orange Drive Miami Beach Music Festival in which Jason Derulo, Cee Lo Green, Ne-Yo, Gym Class Heroes and Cobra Starship also performed. On March 11, 2012 Jake performed on both the Planet Pit Stage and Power 96 Stage at the famed Calle Ocho Festival in Miami, FL in front of an estimated crowd of 200,000+. He also had a show sponsored by Miami’s pop radio station Y-100 where he performed with Sammy Adams, Austin Mahone, J Rand and others. A personal highlight for Jake (as he is an avid Miami Heat fan) was when he performed at the AAA arena during the NBA championship finals.

MTV Buzzworthy says "Jake Miller is about to blow up! Jake just released a brand-new video and we're mildly obsessed, to say the least. Jake's rap flow is serious, and we haven't even discussed his vocals yet! Unsurprisingly, Jake's also got a killer set of pipes." The Miami Herald recently featured Jake in a full page article titled Young Rapper in the Fast Lane, and goes on to say "It's Miller time! Get used to hearing the name Jake Miller. The Weston rapper is on his way. At just 19, the singer-songwriter is a Web sensation." J-14 Magazine featured Jake in their weekly Hot Music Alert section while YoungHollywood.com says "South Floridian Teen Jake Miller (is) breaking through to the Music Mainstream." WFOR-TV (CBS Miami) says "Jake Miller is a star on the rise whose catchy rap tunes are exploding all over the internet." On March 6, 2012, MTV.com did the exclusive music video premiere of Jake's single "I'm Alright." Jake went on a Florida radio tour in March, 2012 to promote his single, "What I Wouldn't Give," and at one point, it was the only record near the top 50 on the Top 40 charts by a completely independent artist.

Jake recently released his first EP, “Spotlight” on iTunes. Jake is a social media wiz and stays extremely connected to his growing fan base. He currently has over 100,000 followers on Facebook and over 70,000 Twitter followers.

Wallpaper. is a band with a radical new pop-soul sound and sensibility that's the antipodean opposite of "wallpaper" music (in the classic Muzak sense). Wallpaper.'s major label debut on Epic Records is a uncompromising declaration of intent.

"Wallpaper. represents the eccentric everyman," says group frontman Ricky Reed, "a blue collar pop band for the other 99%, a twerking class hero who might ACTUALLY show up at your house party - THAT IS WALLPAPER.!"

Direct no-nonsense party music on the surface, Wallpaper., comprised of Arjun Singh and Tom Peyton on drums, Derek Taylor on percussion and Novena Carmel vocals, follows the trajectory of intoxication through the fuck-ups and the hangovers and the adventures and manages to even pinpoint the divine light that strikes for a split-second in the damnedest of places. In the heartbeat of the songs, Wallpaper.'s provocative party anthems open up to celebrate core human values, especially friendship, neccessary for emotional survival.

In "Good For It," the new Wallpaper. single, Ricky, with a mix of swagger and vulnerability, invokes the essential function of friendship operating the deepest levels in times of real trauma. "It's describing a real terrible situation that you're in, without any of the details. There hasn't been a song about just needing help in a long time," he says, harkening back to the Beatle's "Help" and REM's "Everybody Hurts."

Where the dynamic of "Drunken Hearts," is built around "a love song between two train-wrecks," "The Underdog" champions the long shot, the one you take because you don't take opportunity for granted. Ricky, whose "parents are not from money or involved in the entertainment industry," has been making music since he was 16 and strongly identifies with the underdog. It takes a strong work ethic to make it look as easy as Wallpaper. does. "I don't write a lot of songs," he confesses, "but I put a lot of work into all the songs I write. I'm not wasting anybody's time listening to my songs."

"Ricky Reed Is Real," Wallpaper.'s "thesis statement," contains a litany of attributes, concrete and abstract, re-enforcing the persona established on #STUPiDFACEDD, Wallpaper.'s 2011 breakout track (3.3 million YouTube views and counting). The track takes the artist's identity game to the next level, where "Ricky Reed" is a state-of-mind, an attitude, an idea fused directly with reality (a little like "Elvis," the concept). From "the song in your head" to "that hungover Sunday" right down to the "last dollar in the duct-taped wallet," Ricky Reed is in the details, just like God and the Devil.

Born in Berkeley, California, Ricky became obsessed with music at a young age. His mother, a bookkeeper, exposed him to a variety of sounds from the smooth California pop of Steely Dan to the funky sounds of Motown and Sly & the Family Stone. Sly's daughter, Novena Carmel, is one of the vocalists in Wallpaper.

"I took on West Coast rap when that hit," Ricky remembers. "I was a young kid listening to Dre and Snoop." But what really flicked young Ricky's switch was post-Nirvana mainstream punk like Green Day, Rancid and Operation Ivy. "It came directly hand-fed through the radio. I was the right age and it hit me." From there, he got into (then) contemporary rock and British bands. "Digging deeper and deeper and then my mom put me onto early Yes. I got into prog rock, ELP, King Crimson, all that insane stuff. That led me to new music and the avant garde, Steve Reich, Boulez, classical music. I had a prog rock band. And then I decided I want to make some simple silly songs."

The result was Wallpaper.'s debut, 2009's T REX EP, a collection of two and 1/2 minute satiric pop songs. Influenced by Zapp & Roger and other 70s funk band, Ricky had incorporated Auto-Tune pitch correction into his recordings as a kind of satiric emotional distancing device. Wallpaper.'s debut album, Doodoo Face (also released in 2009), found Ricky reaching into deeper grooves for inspiration. "I started introducing R&B from my childhood into the songs so I could play at house parties and have fun."

By 2010, Ricky, unsure about the fate of Wallpaper., was honing his musical and songwriting skills doing commercial work. Looking back over the fledgling Wallpaper. catalog, he could feel a "real pop potential in these songs," but wasn't sure how to tap that. During the holidays, he found himself alone in a studio for a ten day stretch. "I had this weird epiphany," he recalls. "I should just do whatever I want." Giving himself permission to work in a new way opened up a "creative renaissance" that produced #STUPiDFACEDD, a pulse-of-the-culture track that nailed a contemporary ethos as accurately as the Beastie Boys had Fought For The Right To Party a quarter century earlier. The track, and its 21st century Satyricon video, proved pivotal in the Wallpaper. saga. Songwriter and record executive Evan Bogart signed Wallpaper. to Boardwalk Records and helped shepherd #STUPiDFACEDD to the good people at MTV's "Jersey Shore."

MTV's next move was to collaborate with Wallpaper. on an animated video for BEST FUCKING SONG EVERR, a song celebrating friendship and loyalty in a storyline featuring the band members.

One evening in December 2011, Ricky Reed sat down at a grand piano in the auditorium of the Sony Building in Los Angeles and sang "#STUPiDFACEDD Reprise," a lounge jazz version of Wallpaper.'s signature song, for a small audience that included LA Reid and Tricky Stewart. The evening ended with Wallpaper. signing with Epic Records (a joint venture with Boardwalk Music Group).

During the recording of the new Wallpaper. album, Ricky's been dividing his time between his beloved Bay Area and the City of Angels. In the middle of 2012, in the same Echo Park studio that birthed #STUPiDFACEDD, Ricky reached a new creative apotheosis. "Caffeinated and drinking by myself, there's a magic fuzzy place that I really like," he admits candidly proffering a glimpse into his creative process, "but I was going way too hard into it and feeling crazy and alone and in a room with no windows." From which sprang "Puke My Brains Out," a glorious confrontation with the absolute that's gnarly, profound and funny. "It was born out of frustration with where I was at. A new journey began and it ends up being the strongest material I've ever done. I holed up in the studio in October and rewrote almost the whole album from scratch."

Ricky and points proudly to one of Wallpaper.'s manifestos, "Puke My Brains Out," which is "not really a party jam or fully ironic. It's a general sense of feeling overwhelmed and needing to expel all the noise that's in your brain. It's about information overload really." A lyric video for the song, directed and animated in "90s early internet hell graphics by Ricky Reed," is currently racking up views on YouTube.

Ricky's genius is the ability to compress all that information--verbal, rhythmic, melodic, technological, psychological, emotional, mental, physical, spiritual--into pop hooks that strike direct and true and stick to the brain.

For this latest batch of Wallpaper. material, Ricky Reed has "taken all that influence of punk and all that stuff I grew up listening to and all that attitude with the bass and understanding funk and pocket and weight and wrapping into one thing with hooks. If 'FUCKING BEST SONG EVERR' is your last reference point, you have no idea where I'm at right now." The new Wallpaper. album is the way to find out.

Jadagrace is the rapidly rising 13 year-old starlet who featured alongside Christian Bale and Sam Worthington in the $200 million Hollywood movie Terminator: Salvation.

Redfoo’s from LMFAO’s niece and Berry Gordys Grand Daughter!

In addition to her acting career, she is also an extremely gifted recording artist and performer. Her newest single, “Run Dat Back,” scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2013, is currently featured in the “What’s Next” section of the 42^nd volume of the most successful compilation series in music history, Now, That’s What I Call Music. Other notable artists on the compilation include platinum artists LMFAO, Nicki Minaj, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, and Madonna. “Run Dat Back” also debuted on Radio Disney to an 82% approval rating. She just inked a million dollar record deal with the Chairman of Epic Records, LA Reid, and Sony Entertainment will distribute her albums internationally. Jadagrace’s music will also be featured on the Fox Sports Networks nationwide.

This remarkable young talent is currently starring in “The Jadagrace Show,” a sitcom about a 12 year old girl whose amateur videos go viral on “Utoob.” A TV Network becomes aware of her and offers her the ability to produce her own television variety show for kids, incorporating music, dance, and comedy. The concept of this show is serendipitously autobiographical, as Jadagrace is actually an owner of the show in real life. 14 episodes have already been completed with 12 more episodes currently in progress. She has just signed a deal with CBS’s Cookie Jar to distribute worldwide.

Jadagrace graduated from the Gary Spatz’s “The Playground, Young Actor’s Conservatory” where she studied since age 6. Gary Spatz himself coached Jadagrace, and he has contributed to the careers of Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, and Academy Award winner Hilary Swank, just to name a few.

Jadagrace has also been studying dance at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy since age 3. She is well versed in modern, jazz, tap, African, and hip hop. This incredible little girl displays her extraordinary moves in her “Gimme My Money” music video, which has generated over 1,000,000 YouTube views.

Currently Jadagrace is completing an album with her manager, veteran record executive Kerry Gordy. Tricky Stewart, producer of Beyonce and Justin Beiber, is also working on the album. The legendary Smokey Robinson has been mentoring Jadagrace in the studio and has lent his vocal and producing chops to the project as well.

Jadagrace is currently on 50-show tour that includes locations at schools all over Southern California as well as Six Flags and other exciting venues. She recently sang the National Anthem in front of 50,000 cheering fans at Dodgers Stadium.

At last year’s United Nations Summit, Jadagrace represented the children of the world and presented her cause to over 20 sitting presidents and world leaders.

Jadagrace is not only a triple threat, but also excels in everything she puts her energy into. She’s professional, gets good grades, writes songs, plays a mean game of basketball, loves animals and has a great personality.

MKTO is an American duo consisting of Malcolm Kelley (rapper) and Tony Oller (singer). Their sound is a mix of pop, hip hop and R&B. Malcolm Kelley and Tony Oller are both accomplished adolescent actors. They formed MKTO and signed to Columbia Records in early 2012. They released their first song on Twitmusic in fall 2012 and are currently working on their debut album, Role Models, with the help of hitmakers Emanuel "Eman" Kiriakou and Evan "Kidd" Bogart. History: 2010-2012: Formation: The duo first met while filming the TeenNick series, Gigantic, in 2010. In early 2012, MKTO was discovered by longtime musical collaborators Emanuel "Eman" Kiriakou and Evan "Kidd" Bogart, and signed to Columbia Records in March 2012. "While acting, you got a lot of down time, so we would just crack open the computer and start making some music," Kelley recalls. He had been rapping with his friends since he was in his early teens, but had finally found a companion to help pursue the passion seriously. "We used Garage Band a lot on our Macs," remembers Oller, who has played piano and sung since his adolescent years, and even appeared on Showtime at the Apollo and Star Search. "We didn't know at all how to record. We loved music for the simple pleasure of loving music. Not trying to do anything, just enjoy creating it." Before long, the savvy upstarts uploaded a handful of videos to YouTube, displaying the unique flavor they offered by rerecording other artists' hits and giving them a fresh spin. With songs like "Made In America," "Just The Way You Are," and "Champion," they'd post videos of themselves recording the cuts, with Oller's vocals easily distinguishable from the original and Kelly's rapped verses adding an otherwise unexpected but fitting twist. In early 2012, MKTO signed to a new partnership between longtime musical collaborators Emanuel "Eman" Kiriakou and Evan "Kidd" Bogart. The two, who stumbled upon the guys' video for "Champion" online, have been responsible for hits from Beyonce, Rihanna, Selena Gomez, Hot Chelle Rae, Sean Kingston, Jason Derulo and many more. MKTO felt that this formidable creative partnership was the perfect hit song breeding ground for their diverse song style. Shortly after they initially linked up, the foursome headed to New York and took meetings with every major label, as MKTO wowed execs with their total package. In March, they signed with Columbia Records. "They showed us longevity in their artists," Kelley compliments. 2012-Present: Role Models: The duo released their first song "Thank You" via TwitMusic in fall 2012. The song received a glowing review across the web. Music blogger Arjan writes, "Filled with heaps of positive energy and a healthy dose of confidence, "Thank You" is the ultimate feel-good anthem for the "no job out of schoolers, the future cougars, the ones that choose to be losers" and anybody else that has been put down by nay-sayers and came out stronger as a result of it." http://www.arjanwrites.com/arjanwrites/2012/10/mkto-thank-you-free-mp3.html "We're really happy with it," says Houston-bred Oller of the single, "Thank You." "We're still working on the rest of the album, but as of right now, I think we have most of what we're wanting to get across. We have ballads, really soft, 'Someone Like You' stuff. We have up tempo party songs. We're trying to do a lot of sounds." And it's not just the sounds, but also the content: The two discuss the ups and downs that go with adolescence and growing up, navigating a territory that anyone coming of age can find relatable. "I think there's a lane for everything in music," Oller continues. "If people like it, great, but if people don't, we made a record we're proud of." In addition to their sound, it's this sort of comfort in their own skin that defines MKTO, and informs not just the content of their music, but also the origins of their name. "It's simple," Oller says of the moniker, which not only represents their combined initials (Malcolm Kelley, Tony Oller), but something more. "It also stands for what our album kind of is: Misfit Kids and Total Outcasts--just like the kids we were in high school." "Whether we like it or not, some kids are still gonna look up to us, and if I can give them a good direction to go in, or be a positive factor, then I'll be that," Kelley says. Band members: Tony Oller - vocals (2012-present) Tony Oller, born on February 25, 1991, is an American actor and musician from Cypress, Texas. Oller's credits include starring in the Disney Series, As the Bell Rings, and Image Entertainment's, Beneath the Darkness., Malcolm David Kelley - vocals (2012-present) Malcolm Kelley, born May 12, 1992, is an American actor and musician. Kelley is best known for his role as "Walt" from ABC's hit TV show, Lost.

Kat Dahlia uses her voice as a weapon. It’s a voice that cuts sharp and deep, straight to the chambers of the heart. Like the beautiful variations of the flower genus her name represents, the Miami-born rapper-singer-songwriter is complex, intoxicating and unforgettable.

There’s no one quite like Kat Dahlia, who has the sultry inflection of Nelly Furtado, the disposition of Rihanna, the flow of Santigold, the presence of Gwen Stefani and the majestically raw vocal prowess of Amy Winehouse and Adele. She is an artist of her own making. “There’s no other way to stand out than just being yourself,” she says. “I write my own music. People say my voice is very unique and I do this rappy thing that’s kind of different, but if you really want to break it down, I’m just being myself.”

Born Katriana Huguet (and formerly known as Kat Hue), she’s the rare artist who will go into the studio and record nine songs in one day. Tell her she can’t do it; and she’ll prove the naysayers wrong. For years, she waited tables six days a week to save up enough money to independently fund studio sessions, a music video and an EP all on her own. That combination of hustle and infectious vocals is why music industry veteran Sylvia Rhone swiftly signed Kat to her Vested in Culture label with Epic Records the very first time she heard her demos.

It’s easy to understand why Rhone didn’t want to let Kat Dahlia slip away. She’s a natural born storyteller whose material comes directly from the hard knocks that life has served her. “My songwriting is all stories. It’s influenced by a lot of blues, Elvis, and the Buena Vista Social Club, which are all made up of stories.” In her song “Tumbao,” for instance, Kat playfully questions the stereotype associated with being a Latina recording artist: “Sí, yo hablo Español / But, baby, I ain’t trying to fit that mold / I’ma keep my creative control / I’m just a South Beach girl with a lot of soul.”

The spirited 22-year-old was raised by Cuban-born parents in Miami Beach. Though fluent in English and Spanish, her French surname, Huguet, is owed to her paternal great-grandparents who came to Cuba from Lebanon. Kat’s parents emigrated to the U.S. as children and their island culture carried over into the language and salsa music that was fundamental to her upbringing, as Celia Cruz, Tito Puente and Willies wafted through the air in her abuela’s kitchen. Kat performed her first solo, “Tomorrow” from the musical Annie, at a benefit when she was 8-years-old. “I always knew I wanted to do music. I just didn’t know how I was going to get there.” At 15, she started writing her own songs. “I would rip instrumentals from YouTube to make songs because I didn’t have a producer or a band.”

Self-reliance is a trait Kat learned early to survive her riches-to-rags childhood. Her parents were once successful entrepreneurs who owned a moving company, but their business unraveled after they divorced, and Kat and three of her six siblings went to live with their mother. “My parents came from no money, made money, but little by little went back to the struggle. We lived in a hotel room for a while and there was a time when I slept on a sofa-bed with two of my sisters while my other sister slept in an armchair. That’s when I realized I had to do shit on my own.” Kat recalls those harsh experiences in her most revealing song, “Gangsta,” as she vividly sketches the painful details of her life: “No, I ain’t stuntin’ like my daddy / He’s living with my grammy / Used to be a big baller / He’s surviving off of gambling / But I love him, he’s my daddy / Yeah, I love him, he’s my daddy / Put him in a big house before I ever see a Grammy.”

By age 18, Kat had saved up enough money from waitressing at Miami hotspots like STK to strike out on her own, however, the nagging feeling that she wanted more from life prompted her to move to New York. She soon settled in North Bergen, New Jersey, but on arrival in 2010, became derailed by a toxic relationship. A year later, she emerged confident, strong, running her own game and endowed with the insight to channel her emotions into songs.

Kat’s electrifying sound is a sultry mix of Nelly Furtado meets Rihanna with touches of Latin, hip-hop and reggae influences sprinkled throughout her infectious pop songs, and she deftly alternates between spitting pure, infectious lyrical fire in club-bangers like “Fuego” and “Fire Man” and poetically pondering heartbreak and relationships in standouts such as “My Garden” and “Walk On Water.” “I feel like a messenger,” she explains. “I want send a positive message of love and put out good music that constantly challenges me as an artist.” Beware: Kat Dahlia has arrived, she’s armed and she’s dangerous.

katdahlia.com • @katdahlia • facebook.com/katdahliamusic • youtube.com/katdahliaofficial
myspace.com/katdahlia • soundcloud.com/katdahlia • instagram.com/therealkatdahlia

Surpassing the achievements of One Direction and JLS by becoming the first group to win The X Factor in the U.K., four-piece girl band Little Mix were one of the few success stories to emerge from the underperforming and controversial eighth season. Jade Thirlwall (who had auditioned for two previous series) and Perrie Edwards (both from South Shields), Jesy Nelson (from Romford, East London), and Leigh-Anne Pinnock (from High Wycombe) had all originally auditioned as solo artists, but like fellow acts Nu Vibe and the Risk, were put together as a group at the boot-camp stages. After impressing Jessie J and mentor N-Dubz's Tulisa Contostavlos at Judges' House, they made it to the live finals, where their engaging personalities, girl-next-door image, and contemporary song choices saw them outgrow their initial underdog status. Originally known as Rhythmix, the girls were forced to change their moniker in week four after it was revealed that there was already a Brighton-based children's charity of the same name. But following stellar performances of En Vogue's "Don't Let Go," Katy Perry's "E.T.," and Rihanna's "Don't Stop the Music," they beat the Conway Sisters and Hope's previous record to become the first girl band in the show's history to make it past week seven. After contributing to the high-profile M&S TV ad campaign and the finalists' charity cover version of Rose Royce's "Wishing on a Star," they eventually went on to triumph over Marcus Collins in the final. Their debut single, a rendition of Damien Rice's 2003 hit "Cannonball," went on to top the charts but scored the lowest first-week sales by an X Factor winner since Steve Brookstein's "Against All Odds" in 2004, and was later beaten to the coveted Christmas number one spot by the Military Wives Choir. Their debut album, DNA, featuring the singles "Cannonball," "Wings," and the title track, was released in late 2012

Swedish electro-pop duo Icona Pop feature best friends Aino Jawo and Caroline Hjelt. The group first came to notice with the 2010 Kitsuné single "Manners," which was sampled on Chiddy Bang's 2011 song "Mind Your Manners"; the song reached number 19 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart and appeared on the hip-hop duo's debut album, Breakfast. That year, Icona Pop also released the Nights Like This EP, which included "Manners" and "Sun Goes Down," a collaboration with the production team the Knocks, along with the title track. After performing on the European festival circuit and making their live U.S. debut in 2012, Icona Pop released their second EP, The Iconic, which featured the hit single "I Love It," that September. The duo's first full-length was scheduled for 2013.

Longtime friends Eddie Smith III, Jesse Rankins and Jonathan Wells were at a crossroads. It was 2010 and the Alabama natives were accomplished DJs, producers and musicians living in Houston. Yes, they were making a comfortable living making music, but something was lacking.

“We were happy to be doing music, but it became work,” Eddie says today. “We had to get back to loving what we were doing. It almost made everybody not want to make music.”

The trio decided to make drastic changes in their lives, their comfort level, their location and their music. They left the stability of Houston for the unknown of Atlanta. The friends also dedicated themselves to creating the type of music that would make them happy.

Eddie, Jesse and Jonathan had a phrase that had long before become a mantra of sorts: WatchTheDuck. “Everybody sees the duck traveling smoothly on top of the water,” Eddie says. “But nobody sees it kicking hard as hell under it, struggling to stay afloat. We would always say ‘WatchTheDuck’ whenever we were in certain industry scenarios, when everyone’s your friend and is trying to be of importance. We say it to each other to kind of lighten each other’s mood.”

Embracing WatchTheDuck as both a mantra and a lifestyle, the three unplugged from the music industry scene and adopted a new mindset. They also began creating music that reflected their disparate musical influences: rap, soul, electronic, dance, trap, booty, dubstep. The results – with Jesse focusing on vocals, Eddie bass and Jonathan keyboard – were revolutionary.  

“Finally,” Jesse says, “we felt like we could just make music.” “We really got back into our own world, being who we wanted to be, making the music we want to make, not necessarily feeling any pressure from the music industry, not needing to feel accepted by such and such because they’re such and such at the label,” Eddie adds. “It developed into a lifestyle, our doing our own thing. We started making the music we wanted to make and play the way we want to play. There are no rules.”

WatchTheDuck led to a newfound freedom and happiness. Heck, they even slept better. No longer was the crew chasing things. As they honed their sound and hosted house parties, a lifestyle brand emerged. Their adopted hometown of East Atlanta became the epicenter for likeminded friends and neighbors who wanted to be a part of the WatchTheDuck mentality and ethos.

“It’s hitting a note with people who have been searching for the same thing we’ve been searching for,” Eddie says. “Like minds are coming together. The only rule is be yourself. It’s more than the three of us now.”

Notably, there’s TheDuck himself. He’s a part of the group and the movement, a curious entity and adventurous individual who appears at WatchTheDuck events and may truly be the most interesting man in the world. The brand also encompasses a scene that includes artists, DJs, producers and dancers, including the Dragon House Crew. “They make music visible,” Eddie says. “They make you see what you’re playing. We’re all about making it visible, which is why we’re not just on stage DJing two tracks. We’re literally reworking and replaying everything.”

WatchTheDuck’s sensibility was perfectly depicted in the festive, free-flowing video for its single “Poppin’ Off.” “The video really does capture the vibe of the scene,” Eddie says. “The VIP is the dance floor. That’s how you prove your importance. You’ve got to bring something to the table. It’s not about how much. It’s about how unique.”

That uniqueness is not only embraced, but encouraged. “When we’re performing, we see a lot of young fun, a lot of dope energy, people letting loose,” Jonathan says. “That’s not seen at every party and club that you go to. We breed that environment with our music. We want to make sure that our music has the same energy that our parties have.”

That all-encompassing energy permeates WatchTheDuck’s RUB-A-DUB mixtape. Over propulsive beats and wobbling basslines, classic tunes from Beyonce, SWV, Adina Howard and others get dramatic reworkings. Much of WatchTheDuck’s magic comes from combining the best elements of widely different forms of music.

“With every genre comes a set of rules,” Eddie says. “Electronic music, dance music and dub step have their rules and it took us a minute to learn that, that they have rules just as much as R&B has rules, hip-hop has rules. We just don’t believe in them. We believe in learning the rules and how to make something properly, but we don’t believe in sticking with it.”

As WatchTheDuck works on its forthcoming EP and album, Eddie, Jesse and Jonathan relish the movement they have been able to establish. They grew up in Alabama playing in symphonic band and later marching band. Although the three didn’t make plans to attend college together, they ended up doing so. That’s where they became a group, a collective of DJs and producers who also played instruments.

So when the WatchTheDuck crew performs today, they combine all that history, setting up shop among the people, performing and creating music with other members of their community.

“It gives us an opportunity to do what we can do and what we always wanted to do, which is push the musical envelope, push the boundaries and be ourselves doing it,” Jesse says. “We’re very serious, but when we get down, we want to have fun. To me, it represents freedom.”

Members of WatchTheDuck’s rapidly expanding movement agree.   And so does TheDuck.

http://watchtheduck.com/

https://www.facebook.com/watchtheduck

https://twitter.com/WatchTheDuck

Compton, California's Kendrick Lamar initially rapped as K. Dot and released a series of mixtapes under that name. Youngest Head N***a in Charge (2003), Training Day (2005), and C4 (2009) preceded his decision to go by his birth name. Overly Dedicated, released in 2010, was the first Kendrick Lamar mixtape and fared well enough to enter Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart that October. Lamar's first official album was released the following year; Section.80, issued on Top Dawg Entertainment, entered the Billboard 200 at number 113. From 2009 through 2011, he appeared on tracks by Big Pooh, Jay Rock, Tech N9ne, and Game. A 2011 concert with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Game found the trio dubbing him "The New King of the West Coast," something Dre endorsed again by signing Lamar to his Aftermath label. His official debut, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, landed on Aftermath a year later, with guest shots from MC Eiht, Drake, and Dr. Dre.

Asaf Avidan (Hebrew: �סף �בידן) (born March 23, 1980 in Jerusalem) is an Israeli singer-songwriter and musician. He is also the creative force and front-man of Asaf Avidan & the Mojos, an Israeli folk rock band that he established in 2006 in Jerusalem. The band released three albums, The Reckoning in 2008, Poor Boy / Lucky Man in 2009 and Through the Gale in 2010.

Asaf Avidan also had an international hit with One Day / Reckoning Song (Wankelmut Rmx).

Starting 2012, the Mojos band project was shelved so that Avidan would concentrate on a solo career. In 2012, he released Avidan in a Box, an acoustic album which covers older songs by him, digital copies only and is launching Different Pulses in Israel, to be made available internationally in 2013.

Avidan was born in Jerusalem in 1980. His parents were diplomats for the Israeli Foreign Office, and he spent four years of his childhood in Jamaica.

After the mandatory army service in Israel, Avidan studied animation at Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design. His final project short film, “Find Love Now”, won its category at the Haifa Film Festival that year.

After his studies, Avidan moved to Tel Aviv and worked as an animator, until a breakup with his long-time girlfriend shook his world and made him move back to Jerusalem, quit his job and turn full time to his up-till-then hobby – music. Six songs about that breakup and subsequent heartache would constitute his debut EP, Now That You're Leaving, which was released independently in 2006 to critical acclaim.

The woman behind hits such as Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie” and Fort Minor's "Where'd You Go," singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Skylar Grey (who previously recorded as Holly Brook) began singing at the age of two. Her first muses were folk and jazz, two sounds she found in perfect harmony upon discovering the music of Joni Mitchell. The budding songstress took the stage with her mother at the age of six, and had her own band and two recordings under her belt by the time she was in high school. She continued to develop her sepia-toned piano pop throughout her teens, eventually moving to Los Angeles in 2003, where she met Grammy-winning producer — and future co-writer and producer — Jon Ingoldsby. Her debut album for Machine Shop Records, Like Blood Like Honey, was released in 2006 under the name Holly Brook (a shortening of her full name, Holly Brook Hafermann). Tours opening for the likes of Jamie Cullum, k.d. lang, and Duncan Sheik would follow but the album stalled, and soon Brook was without a recording contract. In 2006 her guest vocals on Fort Minor’s "Where'd You Go" would help push the track into the Top Five in America, and in 2009 she would join Duncan Sheik’s band for his Whisper House album and its accompanying tour. The year 2010 was a huge step forward for Brook's solo career, starting with the release of the O’Dark:Thirty EP. A name change to Skylar Grey would soon follow, along with a meeting with Alex da Kid, who signed her to his Wonderland Music label. By the end of 2010, Eminem, along with special guest Rihanna, had a hit with his own version of Grey’s "Love the Way You Lie." ~ James Christopher Monger & David Jeffries, Rovi

At the age of 19, Hunter Hayes became one of the hottest new stars in country music, having signed with a major label and attracted plenty of press attention and airplay, but despite his youth, this wasn't really new for Hayes — he was playing for paying audiences at the age of five and cut his first album when he was only nine. Hayes was born in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana in 1991, and showed a keen interest in music at an early age. His family was proud of their Cajun heritage, and young Hayes was had a regular babysitter who was a fan of legendary Cajun accordionist Aldus Roger. Hayes began singing the melodies of Roger's songs around the house, and when his folks bought him a toy accordion, he was playing Cajun tunes on it within a few days. By the age of five, he had moved up to a custom-made accordion designed to work with his small hands, and he was regularly sitting in with local Cajun bands that played at a local restaurant. Hayes became a minor celebrity in Louisiana, appearing on local television programs, playing a bit part in Robert Duvall's film The Apostle, joining Hank Williams, Jr. on-stage to perform "Jambalaya" at a concert in front of 200,000 fans, and meeting the likes of Johnny Cash, Charlie Daniels, and Bill Clinton. In 2000, he recorded his first album, Through My Eyes, for a regional label, with the youngster playing accordion, singing, and writing several songs as well as performing a handful of Cajun standards. He wrote or so-wrote seven of the thirteen songs on his second independent album, 2001's Make a Wish, which he helped to produce. While Hayes had already mastered keyboards and accordion, he expanded his repertoire to include guitar, mandolin, bass, and percussion, and as a teenager, he assembled a home recording setup, learning more about the rudiments of record making. In 2009, Hayes moved to Nashville, hoping to make a mark in country music, and he signed a publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing Group; Rascal Flatts recorded one of his tunes, "Play," on their 2010 album Nothing Like This. Producer and songwriter Dann Huff, who had worked on the Rascal Flatts album, teamed up with Hayes to produce Hayes' first major-label project after he landed a deal with Atlantic Records. In the summer of 2011, Hayes' single "Storm Warning" was released and made the country Top 40; he wrote the song as well as singing and playing all the instruments himself. His debut album Hunter Hayes was scheduled for release later in 2011, and as his single rode the charts, he spent part of the summer touring small venues as a headliner, and large arenas opening for Taylor Swift.

First thing’s first. The Black Eyed Peas are not breaking up. will.i.am, frontman and producer behind the multi-platinum group, wants to get that out of the way right from the start. “We’re not going anywhere,” he says, by way of introducing his new solo album, SONGS ABOUT GIRLS. “I made the choice in high school to be with a crew and that’s never going to change. It was just really important for me to try some things out on my own, with my own artistry and imagination.”

Indeed. will.i.am has helped steer The Black Eyed Peas into one of the most popular groups in music. They have sold 18 million albums worldwide, have won three Grammy awards and have been nominated for 10 total. The group, though, is a partnership amongst four people. “A will.i.am solo album is a different entity. It’s not a Peas record.”

On his own, will.i.am has established himself as one of music’s top producers. He has collaborated on tracks with Justin Timberlake, John Legend, Kelis, Nas, The Game, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Sergio Mendes, Carlos Santana, The Pussycat Dolls, Busta Rhymes and fellow Black Eyed Pea, Fergie. He has developed into a highly revered, sought-after musician, songwriter and producer. So when it came time to work on his solo material, will.i.am not only had a blank canvas on which to work, but a palette of A-list talent to team up with.

But SONGS ABOUT GIRLS is not a cavalcade of other people’s talents.

“I wanted to be my own man and do my own thing and really try out some ideas that have been bubbling in my head.”

“I didn’t want to come out and say, ‘Hey, I’m a producer and here are all my friends,’” he explains. “I wanted to be my own man and do my own thing and really try out some ideas that have been bubbling in my head.”

Indeed, SONGS ABOUT GIRLS is a musically adventurous album that is solely from the funky, eclectic brainchild of will.i.am taking inspiration from a range of sounds from around the world. It is also a conceptual album, with a story rooted in will’s own personal evolution. While on the surface SONGS ABOUT GIRLS could be interpreted as an ode to the female gender, it is actually an album inspired by a longtime personal romance. “It’s about one particular relationship that, reflecting on it, I was really sorry how it ended up," will explains. "It was just me being a young dude making dumb decisions. But I was just growing up into a man, learning how to juggle a career with a relationship."

A grassroots success, Seattle rapper Macklemore not only climbed to number two on the Billboard 200 album charts, but with little mainstream help, his 2012 sophomore release debuted with only Mumford & Sons in his way for the number one spot. Born Ben Haggerty and raised in Seattle, he debuted as Professor Macklemore in 2000 with the Open Your Eyes EP. Five years later his debut album, The Language of My World, earned him a local following, but it was his 2010 team-up with DJ/producer Ryan Lewis for the Vs. Redux EP that yielded the Red Hot Chili Peppers-sampling hit "Otherside." With Macklemore's wit meeting Lewis' inventive production, further hits like "My Oh My" and "Can't Hold Us" were spread throughout social media and video-sharing sites, setting the stage for a successful sophomore release. That came in 2012 when The Heist dropped as a Macklemore/Ryan Lewis release, debuting at the number two spot on the Billboard 200. A tour of North America followed.

A self-proclaimed product of his past, rapper Sean Kingston's history helps describe his sound. Born in Miami, FL, then raised in Kingston, Jamaica, from the age of six, he mixed more than a little dancehall and reggae into his hip-hop. The hard lyrics come from a hard life, which included incarceration, homelessness, and growing up a lot faster than he should have. His young parents didn't play teen pop or teen rap while he was being raised, so he absorbed the adult lyrics of Buju Banton, Ice Cube, and Rakim. He also lived the lyrics and landed a breaking-and-entering charge at age 11. Twenty-one days in jail, boot camp, and living in a car while his mother was incarcerated on an identity fraud rap all followed. None of it swayed the youth against hustling; it just pointed him in a different, more lucrative direction. Taking his ability to write rhymes and hooks, he started working Miami's talent show and showcase circuit hard, eventually sharing the stage with Pitbull, Ludacris, and Trick Daddy. Producer Jonathan "J.R." Rotem (Britney Spears, 50 Cent, Rihanna) caught his demo and signed the young rapper to his Beluga Heights record label right before the major-label bidding wars were to begin. The Sony imprint Epic won and introduced their new artist in the spring of 2007 with the single "Colors 2007" featuring the Game and Rick Ross. Although he sounded much older, Kingston was only 16 years old when the track landed. With his second single, "Beautiful Girls," he took a sample of Ben E. King's "Stand by Me" and twisted it into a huge hit. This more polished, smoother, and less hardcore stance suited the singer and figured heavily into his self-titled debut full-length.

ENJOY!! This is an AWESOME Halloween Mash-Up ... Psy VS Ghostbusters - Gangnam Busters

Cher Lloyd came to notice as a contestant on series seven of Simon Cowell's U.K. talent program The X Factor. The singer and rapper auditioned for the program twice, singing ballads prior to being accepted through a performance of "Turn My Swag On" — with Keri Hilson's version the template instead of Soulja Boy's original. After a significant amount of support from the program's judges, Lloyd made it to the final but finished fourth. Throughout the series, Lloyd took on a diverse assortment of songs, including Coldplay's "Viva la Vida," the S.O.S. Band's "Just Be Good to Me," Jay-Z's "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)," Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend," and a mix of the Black Eyed Peas' "Where Is the Love?" and "I Gotta Feeling" (performed with the group's will.i.am). After the final, Lloyd signed with Cowell's Sony BMG-affiliated Syco label and debuted in June 2011 with the boisterous single "Swagger Jagger." Her full-length debut album, Sticks + Stones, followed that same year.

Megan and Liz (commonly stylized as Megan & Liz) are an American pop girl band composeded of fraternal twin sisters, Megan and Liz Mace, from Edwardsburg, Michigan. They is both songwriters, and Megan additionally plays guitar. The duo gained it popularity from the video-sharing website YouTube where they post there first videos on 2007.

Megan McKinley Mace and Elizabeth Morgan Mace were born on November 21, 1992 in Indiana. Megan is one minute older then Liz. Megan learn to plays guitar in 2005 and plays in but 18 of their videos.

Their first video on YouTube is title “This Note”, a song they writed when they was just 15. Thre first cover is of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, made famous by Diana Ross. There first song wit live guitar accompaniment was “I Am One of Them” by Aly & AJ in 2008. Eighteen original song has since appeared on YouTube as of early September 2011.

Currently, there YouTube channel has over 500,000 subscribers, over 9 million channel view as well over 93 million video views total. They is also the 33rd most subscribed music channel on YouTube.

On May 5th 2012 Megan And Liz  played along with Outasight & Boys Like Girls in Chattanooga, TN at The Hits 96 Running Of The Chihuahua's.

Bad For Me is NOW available on iTunes.

The Lumineers, a folk-rock trio out of Denver, Colorado, deliver an acoustic-based Americana sound that touches a lot of stylistic bases, from folk to gospel to heartland rock and the narrative end of country, all with interesting rhythmic twists and turns. The band had its beginnings in 2002 when Jeremiah Fraites lost his 19-year-old brother Josh to a drug overdose. Fraites and his brother's best friend, Wesley Schultz, turned to music to deal with the sorrow of it, and were soon writing songs and gigging together in the New York area as a duo. After relocating to Denver, the pair met classically trained multi-instrumentalist Neyla Pekarek after placing a Craigslist ad for a cellist, and things clicked for the trio, who began playing open mikes at the Meadowlark, a basement club where local songwriters gathered, developing a fresh sound that defies tight classification, although front porch Americana might cover it — with a touch of gospel stomp tossed in. The Lumineers released a demo EP in 2009, following it with an eponymous EP in 2011. A proper first album, again simply called The Lumineers, appeared from Dualtone Records in 2012.

Ho Hey is now availabe on iTunes.