The name Bruno Mars may not ring a bell, but you’re familiar with his work. Flo Rida and Ke$ha’s inescapable 2009 hit “Right Round”? Bruno co-wrote it. K’naan’s inspirational “Wavin’ Flag,” which will be the 2010 FIFA World Cup anthem? He co-produced it. And those catchy choruses from B.o.B’s “Nothin’ On You” and Travie McCoy’s “Billionaire” that you can’t get out of your head? Yup, that’s Bruno. Continue reading
From The Miami Herald’s blog, Miami Music Matters
Hip-hop veterans Nas and Goodie Mob stormed the stage of the Knight Concert Hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center in downtown Miami late Friday with a performance that was light on production value, but heavy on crowd-pleasing rap classics.
The show, put on by the folks who brought the Rock The Bells tour to Miami in 2007 and 2008, was a one-time-only truncated version of the traveling hip-hop festival, which skipped the Magic City in 2009.
The Knight Hall, a classical music venue which has recently been home to concerts by hip-hop and R&B acts like Mos Def and Ne-Yo, was a less than ideal venue for this kind of show: Opening act ¡Mayday!, with its four-piece band and two vocalists, sounded sharp and clear, while both Nas and Goodie Mob, who had no live musicians and only DJs, suffered through muddled bass and inconsistent sound. Continue reading
The first thought that enters one’s mind upon hearing Asher Roth’s first single, “I Love College,” is “one hit wonder.” Over a not-so-subtle replaying of Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So,” Roth delivers a gimmicky, catchy, and extremely corny frat-boy ode to boozing, smoking and partying that lacks any sort of thought-provoking content.
Yet, it works. To an extent. Continue reading
Adrian Ruhi 