After a couple of weeks of releasing what’s hailed as her best album in almost a decade, Glory, Britney Spears still has more new music to release.
Being teased since 2015 in many interviews by DJ Mustard, he and Brit team up for the slow R&B banger titled “Mood Ring.” Dealing with up and down emotions of a relationship, “Mood Ring” was produced by Mustard and Twice As Nice and penned by Jon Asher and Melanie Fontana.
The track can only be found on the Japan release of Glory, which dropped in the territory today (9/13).
Get into Britney’s R&B side!
What type of urban realness!!!??? This is EASILY one of Britney’s best songs in her entire discography! The track compliments her so well and is a great collaboration worth waiting for by Mustard and Brit. It’s everything Britney has been pining for when she said she wanted to do something “more urban” with this album, which she’s been doing on most of her albums since back when. While Glory as a whole is her best album since Blackout, I can kinda see why “Mood Ring” was left off the American release because it doesn’t fit the mood aesthetically mixed in. However, this deserves to be an entire single on its own with an iTunes release ASAP! RCA and Maverick – get to work!
Glory is now available in stores and online for streaming.
**SN: The cover above was designed up by yours truly!**
September 11, 2001 was and still is a day that many of us will never forget. But through the unfortunate events came some classic music and albums that were released that same day.
With that being said, let the jokes commence. We all know the journey of Mariah Carey‘s film debut Glitter. Originally titled All That Glitters with pre-production talks dating back to 1997, Mariah’s quest for a new creative avenue was met with hesitance from former label Columbia and her then ex-husband, label head Tommy Mottola, who pressured Mariah into releasing two more albums before her contract’s end – 1998’s number one’s compilation #1’s and 1999’s Rainbow.
Free from the constraints of Sony, Mariah’s project found a new studio in 20th Century Fox and a new record label, Virgin Records – who paid Sony $20 million to release her and sign her to a huge $100 million deal. But while things looked to be on the up-and-up, things came tumbling down one thing after another.
This is where the earlier mention of jokes come in. We all remember her special appearance on MTV‘s TRL with the airbrushed Loverboy tee (and lowkey striptease to Carson Daly) and the Good Humor ice cream truck as well as her true breakdown moment rambling about her non-existent sleep pattern during an in-store signing at the Roosevelt Field Mall in Long Island complete with a Hello Kitty boombox in tow. While it seemed like a joke and funny, it became serious as Mariah left concerning voicemail messages on her official website to fans and soon was hospitalized for”extreme exhaustion” and a “physical and emotional breakdown.” Due to the circumstances at hand and the failing sales of lead single “Loverboy” (although the price-drop to 99 cent helped it reach a peak of #2 on the Billboard Hot 100), the Glitter album soundtrack was pushed back from August 21st to September 11th. Little did she or the world would know, tragedy would ensue on the country and provide a bigger career blow to Mariah.
September 11, 2001 was and still is a day that many of us will never forget. But through the unfortunate events came some classic music and albums that were released that same day.
Though it was a heavy day nobody anticipated, one thing for sure that was heavily anticipated was the release of Jay-Z‘s album The Blueprint.
Released on 9/11 as Jay’s sixth studio album on Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam, The Blueprint undoubtedly became the blueprint for many albums to follow and inspired many artists as well (Nicki Minaj‘s The Pinkprint anyone?). Preceded by the lead single “Izzo (H.O.V.A.),”Kanye West‘s blessing on the production and the Jackson 5“I Want You Back” sample was a huge way to jump start the album. It became Hov’s first solo top-ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at #8 and the cameo-heavy Dave Meyers-directed video was the first introduction to a Jay and Beyoncé kinda world when Destiny’s Child appeared in the video.
Mr. Carter always had soul music inspirations on his previous albums, but it was The Blueprint that pushed that point home even further. Recorded in just two weeks while going through some legal issues, The Blueprint saw more involvement from both Kanye and Just Blaze, who started making their sounds known on Jay’s previous The Dynasty: Roc-La-Familia. Just Blaze brought the immense soul to the epic “Song Cry” while Kanye flipped The Doors‘ “Five to One” on the Nas and Prodigy diss track “Takeover” (Beyoncé would later use the track as an interlude to her “Ring The Alarm” performances since 2014). And who can forget the epic collaboration with Eminem on the track “Renegade” for which Em also produced?
The soul just kept coming on the album’s Kanye-produced second single “Girls, Girls, Girls” which sampled “There’s Nothing In This World That Can Stop Me From Loving You” by Tom Brock and became another top twenty Billboard Hot 100 hit peaking at #17 and #4 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart. Featuring guest vocals by Biz Markie, Q-Tip and Slick Rick in the hook with lyrical interpolations of “High Power Rap” by Crash Crew, the track detailed Jay’s bachelor life on the road pre-married life and possibly Becky With the Good Hair along with a memorable video that was shot in L.A. on the album’s release day. Jay even had Michael Jackson on the remix which was a hidden track on the album when it came out!
With four singles released in all, The Blueprint opened at number one on the Billboard 200 chart with first week sales of over 420,000 copies and going on to sale 2.7 million units in the U.S. alone. It would also go on to become a classic by many standards!
I remember buying this album and just loving every part of it. From the rhymes, lyrics and production, this album was just everything to me as a young 11 year-old who loved everything about music. The Blueprint went on to spawn the sequels The Blueprint 2 (2002) and Kanye-executive produced The Blueprint 3 (2009) and while they are great albums too, they can’t hold a candle to the original that is The Blueprint.
Thank you Mr. Carter for this gift of music! Relive the moments of The Blueprint.
September 11, 2001 was and still is a day that many of us will never forget. But through the unfortunate events came some classic music and albums that were released that same day.
Before releasing his debut, Fabolous was known in the streets of NYC from his affiliation with the legendary DJ Clue and his guest spots on various mixtapes. It wasn’t until his guest rap verses on Lil Mo‘s “Superwoman Pt. II” released in March 2001 that that world gravitated towards the voice of the Brooklyn rapper born John Jackson.
Six months later and after signing to Clue’s Desert Storm Records and Elektra Records, Fab released his debut LP titled Ghetto Fabolous on 9/11/01. The album was preceded by the lead single “Can’t Deny It,” produced by Rick Rock and featuring the vocal stylings on the late-great Nate Dogg. The single managed to peak at #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #13 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart. But it wasn’t until the second single that the country started using a new term across all cultures and solidified that Fab was here to stay.
The Neptunes-produced “Young’n (Holla Back)” may have only peaked at #33 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it was a smooth crossover for Fab into the Pop audience, becoming his first music video to debut in the top ten on TRL. I mean, who can forget the hype video on the train with the Harlem Shake on deck!
The third single, “Trade It All” featuring Jagged Edge and released as a remix with an additional verse by Diddy, was also a lead single on the Barbershop soundtrack, peaking at #20 on the Hot 100.
After debuting at #3 on the Billboard 200 chart and selling over 143,000 units it’s first week despite the day of release, Ghetto Fabolous went on to sell over a million copies in the U.S. alone.
I remember making sure I had to get this album when it came out. Fab’s flow and style at the time was something different and interesting that it just captivated many people to check out his music and follow on. Still to this day a great album!
Relive the glory days of 2001 and Fab’s debut album!
September 11, 2001 – a day that many Americans and those around the world will never forget!
That was a day where the country had no choice but to come together, no matter the race, creed, sexual orientation, background – we had to band together after the unfortunate series of events that transpired that morning of September 11th. Many of us were affected in some way shape of form, whether it was family and friends in the World Trade Center buildings in NYC, in the Pentagon in D.C., on the planes that flew into those buildings including the crash site in Pennsylvania – it was a devastating event that is still fresh on the mind fifteen years later.
So today, no matter what BS is going on in the country at the present time – we need to come together and remember those who lost their lives, were affected in any way shape or form, and the many military members who are still fighting a battle for our country.
THE DOC REPORT 