MAJOR MAESTRO: Wiz Khalifa

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Xposition - September, 2016

Attention!!!

September started off with a surprise gift from the Black Eyed Peas as they released a new version of Where is the love? stylized as #WHEREISTHELOVE featuring The World. Although it is exciting to see the quartet back together, it is not in any way leading to another album. The new release features additional vocals from Justin Timberlake, Jamie Foxx, Ty Dolla $ign, Mary J. Blige, Diddy, Cassie, Andra Day, The Game, Tori Kelly, V. Bozeman, Jessie J, French Montana, DJ Khaled, Usher, Nicole Scherzinger, ASAP Rocky, Jaden Smith and a 40-member children's choir. All proceeds from the song will go to will.i.am's non-profit foundation, i.am.angel., a which charity funds educational programs and college scholarships.

As summer draws to a close the UK and the US have released their songs of the summer lists, as the figures of streaming, sales and airplay are finalized. Drake ft. WizKid & Kyla’s One Dance takes the top spot in both countries as it flooded the dancefloors, radios and clubs throughout the summer worldwide. The top ten in the UK are as follows:

Drake ft. WizKid & Kyla – One Dance
Kungs vs. Cookin’ On 3 Burners – This girl
Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna – This is what you came for
Drake ft. Rihanna – Too good
Calum Scott – Dancing on my own
Justin Timberlake – Can’t stop the feeling!
The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey – Don’t let me down
Major Lazer ft. Justin Bieber & MØ – Cold water
Clean Bandit ft. Louisa Johnson – Tears
Jonas Blue ft. JP Cooper – Perfect strangers

Leading the annual Song of the Summer chart in the US from start to finish, Drake grabbed the coveted crown after staying at the top for all 14 weeks. It’s the third song this decade to rule from start to finish, following Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX’s Fancy and Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dogg’s California Gurls. The top ten in the US are as follows:

Drake ft. WizKid & Kyla – One Dance
Justin Timberlake – Can’t stop the feeling!
The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey – Don’t let me down
Sia ft. Sean Paul – Cheap thrills
Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna – This is what you came for
Desiigner – Panda
Rihanna – Needed me
Twenty One Pilots – Ride
Fifth Harmony ft. Ty Dolla $ign – Work from home
Adele – Send my love (to your new lover)

On 7th September 2016 the music video of Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth’s See You Again entered the exclusive 2 billion views club which logically means that more than a quarter of the world’s population has watched it. Taken from the Furious 7 soundtrack it was dedicated as a tribute to Paul Walker who died in a tragic car accident months before the completion of the movie. This video follows K-Pop viral sensation Gangnam Style by PSY which first hit the 2 billion mark back in 2014.

Moving on to reality TV news, after a drought of four years, a singer has won America’s Got Talent. Twelve year-old singer, songwriter and ukuleleist Grace VanderWaal won the 11th season of AGT beating psychic duo The Clairvoyants and magician Jon Dorenbos. She is the second female and the second child act to win in the show’s history.

The Latin Grammys 2016 nominations are in and leading the way with four nods each are Colombian star Fonseca nominated for two albums: Conexion up for Album of the Year and Homanje (A La Musica De Diomedes Diaz) up for Best Cumbia/Vallenato Album along with Mexican duo Jesse & Joy, Brazilian singer/songwriter Djavan, sound engineer Ricardo Lopez Lalinde and producer/engineer Julio Reyes Copello (the last two for their work with Fonseca, Andres Cepeda and Diego Torres). Marc Anthony has been named the 2016 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year who will be honoured during Latin Grammy week on November 16, the night before the awards ceremony in Las Vegas.

Selena Gomez has been accumulating her fan base on a monumental scale as she becomes the first person to reach 100 million Instagram followers. Meanwhile, Lady Gaga released her latest single Perfect Illusion accompanied by a less than mediocre video, as the lead single off her highly anticipated upcoming fifth studio album Joanne. The Weeknd who’s last album Beauty Behind The Madness, which has been certified multi-platinum worldwide, announced that his next album will be called Starboy.

Omarion and DJ Mustard have been sued by BMG Rights Management for intellectual property rights infringement for a whopping USD 300,000. Back in 2014, Jon Redwine penned a song called Came To Do for Chris Brown and assigned 50% of the rights to BMG which was produced by Nic Nac. BMG alleges that Omarion’s most successful hit to date Post To Be, a collaboration with Chris Brown and Jheine Aiko is a sampling of the music from Came To Do. The lawsuit is not only seeking damages but BMG is also seeking an injunction to prevent Omarion from performing the song and preventing any sales and/or airplay.

Moving on to chart news, in the US, the reign of Sia ft. Sean Paul’s Cheap Thrills came to an end as The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey’s Closer took over and remained at the top for the rest of the month. The Chainsmokers succeed on their fourth attempt to reach the top after #Selfie in 2013 and Roses in 2015 and Don’t Let Me Down in 2016. Meanwhile, they are the first duo to reach the top since Macklemore & Ryan Lewis in 2013 and also the first EDM song to top the chart since Baauer’s Harlem Shake in 2013. During the month Twenty One Pilots’ Heathens rose to a peak of No.2 and Ride ascended to No.5. Moreover, Shawn Mendes’ Treat You Better and Charlie Puth ft. Selena Gomez’s We Don’t Talk Anymore entered the top 10. In addition Drake’s One Dance ended its monumental run at the top and inside the top 10 as it exited the top 10 during the month, ending Drake’s streak of 51 consecutive weeks in the Top 10. With this feat Drake becomes the best streak ever by a male artist to remain within the top 10, second among all acts only to Katy Perry’s 69-week run in 2010-2011.

In the UK, Major Lazer ft. Justin Bieber & MØ’s Cold Water continued its stay at the top extending its reign to five weeks but The Chainsmoker’s Closer grabbed the top spot in the UK as well and remained there for the rest of the month. During the month Martin Garrix ft. Bebe Rexha’s In The Name Of Love, Sia ft. Kendrick Lamar’s The Greatest, Ariana Grande ft. Nicki Minaj’s Side To Side and James Arthur’s Say You Won’t Let Go all entered the top 10.

Other songs which became popular during the month were:

Calvin Harris – My way
Zara Larsson – Ain’t my fault
Dua Lipa – Blow your mind (mwah)
D.R.A.M. ft. Lil Yachty – Broccoli
Hailee Steinfeld ft. Grey & Zedd – Starving

Till the next beat...

At Ease!!!

Greatest Hits of 2015

Attention!!!

2015 was an awesome year for music in terms of quality as well as genre. Although the year was heavily influenced by R&B, compared to the Pop filled 2014, the year produced brilliant hits. There was Reggae, EDM, Minimal House, Rock, Pop, Country, Rap, Doo-Wop and the newbie Trap which made its ascent to the mainstream scene. The titans of the industry Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Adele, Drake and Wiz Khalifa battled head to head for the top position on the charts and boy bands and girl groups also enjoyed commercial success for instance Little Mix, One Direction, Fifth Harmony and 5 Seconds of Summer.

The year belonged to Taylor Swift with her crossover album 1989 enjoying monumental success with four top 10 hits and two chart toppers during the year. Blank Space which was No.12 last time on the list is No.6 this year. This along with Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud (15-13) are the only singles to be included from 2014. Swift and The Weeknd each have three entries on the list with Justin Bieber accumulating a whopping four entries including his feature on Skrillex & Diplo's Where Are U Now. Bieber has all four hits within the Top 25 while The Weeknd has all three of his hits within the Top 20. Meghan Trainor, Charlie Puth, Jess Glynne and Demi Lovato all have two singles each on the chart.

Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars' record breaking global smash hit Uptown Funk grabs the crown on the year end list with Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth's See You Again off the Furious 7 soundtrack at No.2. Adele's comeback hit Hello is at No.3 and would have surely ended at the top if it was not released so late in the year. Soundtracks were quite successful as can be seen from the Furious 7 theme song and similar success was enjoyed by Fifty Shades of Grey wherein it contained the hits Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding and Earned It by The Weeknd.

The year was a good year for dance music with Major Lazer & DJ Snake ft. MO's Lean On becoming a worldwide hit as well as hits by Calvin Harris, Skrillex, Avicii, Diplo and Zedd. We see Trap being incorporated to Rap, EDM as well as Pop. Fetty Wap enjoyed immense commercial and critical acclaim with his Trap Queen enjoying top positions in the charts worldwide. David Guetta has incorporated Trap into his current music. Alternative Rock had hits by Fall Out Boy, Hozier, X Ambassadors, WALK THE MOON and Elle King. After the breakthrough of MAGIC!'s Rude in 2014 we see Reggae becoming a contemporary mainstream genre with OMI's Cheerleader and R.City's Locked Away.

Teenyboppers such as Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas all proved that they are much more than social media icons and celebrities and proved with their new albums that they have the vocals as well as the talent to produce mega hits. New artists such as The Weeknd, Rachel Platten, Jesse Glynne, Years & Years and James Bay blew us away with their awesome songs and their deliverance. So without further ado here are the top 50 greatest hits of 2015:

Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars – Uptown funk
Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth – See you again
Adele – Hello
The Weeknd – Can’t feel my face
Taylor Swift – Blank space
Major Lazer & DJ Snake ft. MO – Lean on
Justin Bieber – What do you mean?
OMI – Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Remix)
Ellie Goulding – Love me like you do
Hozier – Take me to church
Justin Bieber – Sorry
The Weeknd – The hills
Ed Sheeran – Thinking out loud
Fetty Wap – Trap queen
Lost Frequencies – Are you with me
Jason Derulo – Want to want me
Rachel Platten – Fight song
Maroon 5 – Sugar
The Weeknd – Earned it
WALK THE MOON – Shut up and dance
Justin Bieber – Love yourself
Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar – Bad blood
Skrillex & Diplo ft. Justin Bieber – Where are u now
Little Mix – Black magic
Years & Years – King
Jess Glynne – Hold my hand
One Direction – Drag me down
James Bay – Hold back the river
Meghan Trainor – Lips are movin’
David Guetta ft. Bebe Rexha, Nicki Minaj & Afrojack – Hey mama
Silento – Watch me (whip/nae nae)
Calvin Harris with Disciples – How deep is your love
Nick Jonas – Jealous
Natalie La Rose ft. Jeremih – Somebody
Fifth Harmony ft. Kid Ink – Worth it
Flo Rida ft. Sage the Gemini & Lookas – G.D.F.R.
R. City ft. Adam Levine – Locked away
Drake – Hotline bling
Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney – FourFiveSeconds
Olly Murs ft. Demi Lovato – Up
Charlie Puth ft. Meghan Trainor – Marvin Gaye
Selena Gomez ft. A$AP Rocky – Good for you
Måns Zelmerlöw – Heroes
Taylor Swift – Style
Demi Lovato – Cool for the summer
Sheppard – Geronimo
Carly Rae Jepsen – I really like you
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Downtown
Tinie Tempah ft. Jess Glynne – Not letting go
LunchMoney Lewis – Bills

Till next year...

At Ease!!!

Xposition - September 2015

Attention!!!

September was not such an interesting month. In the wake of the aftermath of the MTV Video Music Awards 2015 where hell always breaks lose, September proved to be quite somber. The month kicked off with the announcement that Avril Lavigne and Chad Kroeger are separating after two years of marriage.

Yes, the summer is over and it is time to check the anticipated Songs of Summer. The coveted crown in the US went to OMI's Cheerleader beating Wiz Khalifa's See You Again in the final week of the tally. Taylor Swift's Bad Blood came in at No.3 followed by The Weeknd's Can't Feel My Face and Silento's Watch Me. In the UK, the Biggest Selling Songs of Summer 2015 were revealed with Jason Derulo's Want To Want Me. At second place was Lost Frequencies' Are You With Me followed by OMI's Cheerleader and Tinie Tempah's Not Letting Go.

September also revealed the next artist who will sing the next James Bond. The title has gone to Sam Smith. The announcement ended months of speculation in which the likes of Ed Sheeran, Ellie Goulding, Adele, Lana Del Rey, Lorde, Noel Gallagher and even Radiohead were tipped as candidates to helm the new Bond song. Smith's Writing On The Wall is to be featured in the film Spectre.

Taylor Swift's conquests continues as she leads the nominations in this year's MTV Europe Music Awards. The singer has nine nominations including Best Song, Best Pop Artist, Best Female Artist and Best Live Act. Alongside Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar's Bad Blood the following have also been nominated for Best Song:

Ellie Goulding: Love Me Like You Do

Major Lazer & DJ Snake ft. MØ: Lean On

Mark Ronson ft Bruno Mars: Uptown Funk

Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth: See You Again

Meanwhile, the UK has compiled the lists for the Top 40 Biggest Albums of 2015 So Far and the Top 40 Biggest Songs of 2015 so Far. Ed Sheeran's x leads the albums list followed by Sam Smith's In The Lonely Hour and Taylor Swift's 1989. The 5 biggest songs so far are:

Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars - Uptown funk
OMI - Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Mix)
Hozier - Take Me To Church
Ellie Goulding - Love Me Like You Do
Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth - See You Again

September also witnessed Sam Smith's debut record In The Lonely Hour notch up a record-breaking 67 consecutive weeks in the Official Albums Chart Top 10 – the longest unbroken run ever for a debut album. The LP hasn’t left the Top 10 since its release in May 2014, where it debuted at Number 1. The chart record was previously held by Emeli Sande, whose debut Our Version Of Events tallied 66 consecutive weeks in the Top 10 between February 2012 and May 2013. Prior to Emeli, the record was held for almost 50 years by The Beatles’ Please Please Me (62 weeks).

In chart news, in the US, OMI's Cheerleader stayed atop the charts during the first week and was replaced once again by The Weeknd's Can't Feel My Face which replaced it earlier in August. However, this proved short lived as Justin Bieber's global smash hit What Do You Mean? debuted at No.1 the following week. But The Weeknd did manage to grab the top spot in the final week. By this feat The Weeknd became the first solo male to top the Artist 100, Hot 100 and Billboard 200 in the same week as his album Beauty Behind The Madness had topped the album chart as well. Only one other act had achieved the same feat earlier and it was Taylor Swift with her Shake It Off at No.1 on the Hot 100 and 1989 at No.1 on the Billboard 200 and herself at the helm of the Artist 100. Meanwhile, Fetty Wap ft. Remy Boyz' 679, Ed Sheeran's Photograph and R.City ft. Adam Levine's Locked Away all entered the Top 10 during the month.

In the UK, Rachel Platten opened the month with her debut hit Fight Song at the top. This was replaced by Bieber's What Do You Mean? which was replaced by Sigala's Easy Lover in the third week only to be overthrown by Bieber in the fourth week and he remained at the top during the final week. Demi Lovato's Cool For The Summer, Galantis' Peanut Butter Jelly and Felix Jaehn ft. Jasmine Thompson's Ain't Nobody (Loves Me Better) all entered the Top 10 during the month.

Some of the other popular hits during the month were:

Taylor Swift - Wildest dreams
Sam Hunt - House party
Lana Del Rey - High by the beach
Pia Mia ft. Chris Brown & Tyga - Do it again
Nick Jonas - Levels
Alessia Cara - Here
Disclosure ft. Sam Smith - Omen
Rita Ora ft. Chris Brown - Body on me

Till the next beat...

At Ease!!!

Xposition - July 2015

Attention!!!

July was a month of controversy. It all started when Donald Trump, a Republican candidate for the US presidency made defamatory remarks about Hispanic immigrants which lead to many artists pulling out of the Miss USA Pageant which is organized by the Trump owned Miss Universe Organization. Among them were Flo Rida, Natalie La Rose and J. Balvin.

Then we move onto Ariana Grande who went on a famous donut licking rampage which almost landed her in jail. Moreover, during the incident she went on to say "I hate America, I hate Americans" which resulted in a heavy social media backlash against the artist who has since apologized for the whole incident. One thing for sure, Grande won't be licking anything for a while.

Next up, the MTV Video Music Awards 2015 is to be held on August 30, 2015. Since the organizers cannot let Miley Cyrus perform on stage after the blurred lines debacle of 2013, the producers of the awards show have asked her to host the damn thing. Well, let's hope there's no bong on stage because we all know she smoked a joint once when accepting an award.

The VMAs announced their nominations and Taylor Swift is nominated for nine including Video of the Year. Ed Sheeran is nominated for six while Hozier, Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande have all been nominated for multiple awards. But Minaj felt snubbed for her videos Anaconda and Feeling Myself alongside Beyonce which were both snubbed by MTV. "If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year" tweeted Minaj. Swift however took this personally and tweeted "I've done nothing but love & support you. It's unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot.." While the two exchanged barbs back and forth social media and the fan armies of the two artists took the war to another level leading to a huge debate about Black Fat Women vs. White Slim Women. However, since then Swift has apologized on twitter for reading too much into the post and misunderstanding and Minaj has accepted. Await another hit single next year by Swift motivated by the Minaj incident.

The Teen Choice Awards 2015 is also around the corner with Ludacris, Josh Peck and Gina Rodriguez hosting this year. Some new categories such as Choice Web Star, Social Media King, Social Media Queen and Choice Twit have been introduced. Swift and the ladies from Pitch Perfect 2 are leading the nominations with each nominated for six categories.

Tomorrowland 2015, was also held in Boom, Belgium from 24-26 July 2015 with headlining acts from Steve Aoki, David Guetta, Martin Garrix, Hardwell, Alesso, Armin Van Buuren and Afrojack. This time with the festival was following the new theme Melodia.

Well, I guess there is only one way for a Brown to go. Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston's daughter Kristina who was found face down in a bathtub earlier this year was under a medically induced coma after which in late July she passed away. Her mother Whitney Houston died under similar circumstances but the coroner in her case concluded that there was evidence of substance abuse prior to drowning in the bathtub. RIP Kristina.

Moving on to chart news, in the US Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth's See You Again held on to the peak position for the first three weeks of the month and tying for the longest leading Rap No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 alongside Black Eyed Peas' Boom Boom Pow. However, OMI's Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Remix) claimed the top spot during the last week of July thereby preventing Wiz Khalifa from breaking the record. During the month Selena Gomez ft. A$AP Rocky's Good For You, Diplo & Skrillex ft. Justin Bieber's Where Are U Now, Rachel Platten's Fight Song, Silento's Watch Me and The Weeknd's Can't Feel My Face all entered the top 10.

In the UK, the month started off with Tinie Tempah ft. Jess Glynne's Not Letting Go at the top followed by Lost Frequencies' Are You With Me and David Zowie's House Every Weekend peaking in the second and third weeks respectively. However, it was Little Mix's newest single Black Magic which crowned the last two weeks of July. During the month Flo Rida ft. Robin Thicke & Verdine White's I Don't Like It, I Love It, Rita Ora's Poison, Years & Years' Shine, Avicii's Waiting For Love, Fifth Harmony ft. Kid Ink's Worth It and James Bay's Let It Go all entered the top 10.

Other songs which became popular during the month were:

Krept & Konan ft. Jeremih - Freak of the week
Birdy - Wings
Calvin Harris with Disciples - How deep is your love
John Newman - Come and get it
Demi Lovato - Cool for the summer
Fall Out Boy - Uma Thurman
Sam Feldt ft. Kimberley Anne - Show me love

At Ease!!!

Xposition - June 2015

Attention!!!

The month of June started off with the girl group G.R.L. already devastated by the tragic death of its member Simone Battle parting ways. The group made up of Paula Van Oppen, Natasha Slayton, Lauren Bennett and Emmalyn Estrada announced the decision through their management.

The UK has released a list of the Biggest Selling Album of the Decade So Far with Adele's 21 taking the lead. Take That's Progress is at No.2 with Michael Buble's Christmas at No.3. Ed Sheeran X and + are both inside the top 10 with Sam Smith's In the Lonely Hour and Bruno Mars' Doo-Wops & Hooligans at No.9 and No.10. Olly Murs has his three albums Right Place Right Time, In Case You Didn't Know and self titled Olly Murs placed at No.16, No. 21 and No. 40 respectively. One Direction, Pink and Lady Gaga also have two entries each.

The UK thereafter released a list of the Biggest Selling Singles of the Millennium so far. On this Pharrell Williams' Happy tops the list with Will Young's Anything is Possible/Evergreen at a close second. Controversial hit Robin Thick ft. T.I. and Pharrell Williams' Blurred Lines is at No.3 and Adele's Someone Like You is at No.4. Rounding up the top 5 is Maroon 5 ft. Christina Aguilera's Moves Like Jagger which never actually even reached No.1 on the UK Charts.

We now have confirmation of the leading contenders of the year-end charts in the UK as they have released a list of the 40 Biggest Songs of the 2015 so far. Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars' global smash hit Uptown Funk is No.1 with Hozier's Take Me To Church at No.2. Rounding up the top 5 are:

3. OMI - Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Remix)

4. Ellie Goulding - Love me like you do

5. Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth - See you again

The 2015 MuchMusic Video Awards were held on June 21, 2015. Good performances of the night included Fall Out Boy's Uma Thurman, Shawn Mendes' Stitches, Carly Rae Jepsen's I Really Like You, Nick Jonas' Chains and a double performance by Ed Sheeran with Photograph and Thinking Out Loud separately. The Video of the Year was awarded to The Weeknd's Often. The other significant winner were:

Best Pop Video: The Weeknd - Often
Best Rock/Alternative Video: Arcade Fire - We exist
Best Hip Hop Video: P Reign ft. Drake & Future - DnF
Best International Video: Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud
Fan Fave Video: Shawn Mendes - Something Big

The BET Awards were held on June 28, 2015. Nicki Minaj and Chris Brown led the nominations with six each followed by Beyonce and Lil Wayne with four each. Chris Brown & Tyga performed the hit Ayo while Omarion joined Breezy for the summer smash Post To Be. Ciara, Jason Derulo and Tinashe paid homage to the BET honoree Janet Jackson for her monumental contribution to the industry as she was awarded Ultimate Icon: Music Dance Visual Award. The winners of the night included:

Best Female R&B/Pop Artist: Beyonce
Best Male R&B/Pop Artist: Chris Brown
Best Group: Rae Sremmurd
Best Collaboration: John Legend & Common
Best Female Hip Hop Artist: Nicki Minaj
Best Male Hip Hop Artist: Kendrick Lamar
Video of the Year: Beyonce - 7/11
FANdemoniam Award: Chris Brown

It was Taylor Swift vs. Apple Inc. last month with the pop star coming out victorious against the corporate giant. With this achievement she has cemented herself as the most powerful personality in the music industry at present. The dispute was over the royalties that musicians and the ancillary creative contributors would lose due to the free trials granted by Apple's new streaming music service. After Swift posted a strongly worded Tumblr post Apple retreated and agreed to pay royalties on all music for the free trial period.

Meanwhile, Iggy Azalea wanted a piece of Britney Spears as she took to twitter and blamed Spears for the failure of their collaborated single Pretty Girls. Although Spears did not lash back directly she did tweet the fact that she cannot wait to get back to Vegas as she has a lot of shows to look forward to. This may be a sarcastic hint at Azalea's cancelled tour in comparison to Spears' ongoing multimillion dollar residency in Vegas.

At the end of the month Billboard announced its first ever Billboard Hot 100 Music Festival featuring the biggest artists on the charts as well as rising newcomers. The festival is to take place on August 22nd and 23rd at New York's Jones Beach.

June ended with a bang with Lily Allen burning a Fuck Off Kanye flag which was being carried around by a concert-goer at Glastonbury where Kanye West was supposed to perform. She burned the flag until only Kanye was left. Well at least one other female artist other than Beyonce likes Kanye.

With the hype of the airing of its video at the BBMAs behind it Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar's Bad Blood jumped from 53 - 1 dethroning Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth's rap ballad See You Again on the first week of June on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. However, this peak was proved short lived as Khalfia's See You Again once again took over the top position and held on for the rest of the month. Meanwhile, David Guetta ft. Afrojack, Nicki Minaj and Bebe Rexha's Hey Mama peaked at No.8 and Andy Grammar's Honey, I'm Good and OMI's Cheerleader also entered the Top 10 during the month.

In the UK, Jason Derulo's Want To Want Me debuted at No.1 and topped the charts for the entire month. During the month Major Lazer & DJ Snake ft. MO's Lean On and Natalie La Rose ft. Jeremih's Somebody both peaked at No.2 and Walk The Moon's Shut Up and Dance and Deorro & Chris Brown's Five More Hours both peaked at No.4.

Other songs which became popular during the month were:

Martin Garrix ft. Usher - Don't look down
Alexandra Stan & Inna ft. Daddy Yankee - We wanna
Ed Sheeran - Photograph
Pitbull ft. Chris Brown - Fun
Hilary Duff - Sparks
Adam Lambert - Ghost town
The Weeknd - The hills

Till the next beat…

At Ease!!!

Xposition - May 2015

Attention!!!

The 2015 Billboard Music Awards was held on 17 May 2015 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas hosted by Ludacris and Chrissy Teigen. This was definitely Taylor Swift's night as she grabbed 8 out of 14 nominations including Top Artist, Top Female Artist, Top Hot 100 Artist, Top Billboard 200 Album and Billboard Chart Achievement Award. Moreover, she premiered her much anticipated video of her latest single Bad Blood featuring Kendrick Lamar and a host of super stars in the video.

Some of the great performances of the night included Nick Jonas with Jealous, Wiz Khalifa, Charlie Puth and Lindsey Stirling with See You Again, Hozier with Take Me To Church, Nicki Minaj and David Guetta with The Night is Still Young and Hey Mama and Little Big Town and Faith Hill with Girl Crush. Mariah Carey took the stage with a medley of Vision of Love and her newest single Infinity, marking the first time she has performed on the Billboard stage since 1998. Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea performed their new single Pretty Girls which was less than mediocre and Kanye West was booed when he got on stage for his medley of All Day and Black Skinhead. Some of the significant winners of the night were:

Top New Artist - Sam Smith
Top Male Artist - Sam Smith
Top Duo/Group - One Direction
Top Hot 100 Song: Meghan Trainor - All about that bass
Top Streaming Artist - Iggy Azalea
Top Country Song: Jason Aldean - Burnin' it down
Top Dance/Electronic Artist - Calvin Harris
Top Dance/Electronic Song: DJ Snake & Lil Jon - Turn down for what
Top Latin Song: Enrique Iglesias ft. Descemer Bueno & Gente de Zona - Bailando
Top R&B Song: Pharrell Williams - Happy
Top Rap Song: Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX - Fancy
Top Rock Song: Hozier - Take me to church
Top Soundtrack - Frozen

The 60th Eurovision Song Contest was held in Vienna, Austria, following Conchita Wurst's victory in 2014. The finals were held on 23 May 2015 where Sweden's entry Mans Zelmerlow's Heroes (365 points) beat Russia's entry Polina Gagarina's A Million Voices (303 points). Russia became the first non-winning nation to score over 300 points in the contest.

Some musicians also passed away during the month of May including B.B. King aka King of the Blues suffering from ill health in recent months and Errol Brown, the lead singer of the popular 70s band Hot Chocolate who died of liver cancer.

Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar's Bad Blood which premiered at the Billboard Music Awards broke the Vevo 24-Hour viewing record garnering 20.1 million views, surpassing the record previously held by Nicki Minaj's Anaconda with 19.6 million views. The song for once is not about an ex-lover but about her ongoing cat fight with Katy Perry, whom she says dislikes her for an unknown reason. The video directed by Joseph Kahn features Swift's BFF Selena Gomez, Ellie Goulding, Ellen Pompeo and a host of super models including Cindy Crawford. The song with its backstory and star studded video will start bidding for its place at the top of the charts from June.

In the US, Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth's See You Again continued its reign for the entire month of May completing six weeks at the top. Britney Spears & Iggy Azalea's much hyped Pretty Girls failed to reach even the top 20. David Guetta's new single Hey Mama featuring Nicki Minaj and Afrojack is rapidly climbing the charts. The single which initially did not credit the vocals of Bebe Rexha finally changed the credits to feature Rexha after the performance at the Billboard Music Awards and the premiere of the video, which however only features Nicki Minaj (that too as a hologram). Jason Derulo's newest single Want To Want Me and T-Wayne's Nasty Freestyle entered the top 10 while Fetty Wap's Trap Queen peaked at No.2 and WALK THE MOON's Shut Up and Dance peaked at No.4 during the month.

In the UK, See You Again was at the top for only during the first week of May as OMI's Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Remix) displaced it during the second week and continued at the top for the remainder of the month beating out heavy competition by LunchMoney Lewis' Bills which peaked at No.2 and Carly Rae Jepsen's I Really Like You which peaked at No.3. Major Lazor & DJ Snake ft. MO's global hit Lean On, Clean Bandit's Stronger and Taylor Swift's Bad Blood all peaked at No.4 and Iggy Azalea ft. Jennfier Hudson's Trouble peaked at No.7.

Some of the other songs which became popular during the month of May are:

Andy Grammar - Honey. I'm good
Galantis - Runaway (U & I)
Blonde ft. Alex Newell - All cried out
Omarion ft. Chris Brown & Jhene Aiko - Post to be
DJ Snake & AlunaGeorge - You know you like it
Silento - Watch me
Echosmith - Bright

Till the next beat…

At Ease!!!

Xposition - April 2015

Attention!!!

Well April did have its moments in terms of major drama and breakups. First up, Miley Cyrus split from a five month relationship with Patrick Schwarzeneggar and this was followed by Big Sean and Ariana Grande's breakup. A lame twitter spat between Diplo and LTTE terrorist supporter M.I.A. over her being signed on to a major label was also the subject of unwarranted media hype.

The 50th Academy of Country Music Awards was held in April where Luke Bryan and Miranda Lambert emerged as the biggest winners of the show. Luke Bryan who co-hosted the show alongside Blake Shelton won the Entertainer of the Year. Miranda Lambert took away the Female Vocalist of the Year and Jason Aldean won the Male Vocalist of the Year. The other winners are:

Album of the Year: Miranda Lambert - Platinum
Song of the Year: Miranda Lambert - Automatic
Vocal Duo of the Year - Florida Georgia Line
Vocal Group of the Year - Little Big Town
New Artist of the Year - Cole Swindell
Single Record of the Year: Lee Brice - I Don't Dance

The 2015 Billboard Latin Music Awards was also held in April where Enrique Iglesias and Romeo Santos ruled the night. Enrique Iglesias took 9 awards including Latin Pop Album of the Year for Sex & Love and his global hit Bailando won the award for Hot Latin Song of the Year, Airplay Song of the Year, Digital Song of the Year, Streaming Song of the Year and Latin Pop Song of the Year. Romeo Santos bagged 10 awards to seal his title as the most nominated artist in the history of the awards. In what seemed a very emotional performance for her, Jennifer Lopez stole the show when she paid tribute to Selena, who was tragically murdered 20 years ago. The significant winners included:

Artist of the Year: Romeo Santos
New Artist of the Year: J. Balvin
Social Artist of the Year: Shakira
Hot Latin Songs Male Artist of the Year: Romeo Santos
Hot Latin Songs Female Artist of the Year: Natalia Jimenez
Billboard Spirit of Hope Award - Carlos Santana

The 2015 Radio Disney Music Awards were also held in April with performances by Fifth Harmony, Nick Jonas, Sheppard, Natalie La Rose and Shawn Mendes. The Song of the Year went to Ariana Grande ft. Iggy Azalea's Problem while the Hero Award was awarded to Jennifer Lopez. Other winners of the night included:

Best Female Artist: Ariana Grande
Best Male Artist: Ed Sheeran
Best Group: Fifth Harmony
Best New Artist: Charli XCX
Best Band: 5 Seconds of Summer
Best Collaboration: Demi Lovato ft. Cher Lloyd - Really don't care
Best Song to Dance To: Taylor Swift - Shake it off

The much anticipated 2015 Billboard Music Awards are to be held next month with Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea opening the show with her newest single Pretty Girls, which is hyped up to be one of the biggest collaborations this year. Taylor Swift leads the nominations with 14 followed by Sam Smith with 13, Iggy Azalea with 12 and Meghan Trainor with 9. Mariah Carey is also to perform for the first time since 1998 at the show.

In the US Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars' Uptown Funk ruled for the first three weeks of the month completing 14 weeks at No.1 and tying at second place with 6 other songs behind Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men's One Sweet Day which holds the record for staying 16 weeks at number one. However, Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth's See You Again taken from the Furious 7 soundtrack dethroned Uptown Funk's reign. This tribute to Fast and the Furious star Paul Walker who died in a tragic car accident in 2013 once again shows that this year the Billboard Hot 100 is more tolerable to soundtracks as it comes in the wake of the success of Ellie Goulding's Love Me Like You Do and The Weeknd's Earned It from the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack. Flo Rida ft. Sage the Gemini and Lookas' G.D.F.R., Natalie La Rose ft. Jeremih's Somebody and Walk The Moon's Shut Up and Dance all managed to enter the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.

In the UK the month started off with Jess Glynne's Hold My Hand at the top the position of which it kept till Wiz Khalifa's See You Again claimed the top spot in the UK as well. During the month Ed Sheeran's Bloodstream, Nick Jonas' Jealous, and OMI's Cheerleader all peaked at No.2. Sia's Elastic Heart also achieved a peak of 10 and Steve McCrorie's Lost Stars a peak of No.4 during the month.

Some of the other songs that became during the month are:

Jason Derulo - Want to want me
David Guetta ft. Afrojack & Nicki Minaj - Hey mama
Little Big Town - Girl crush
Skrillex & Diplo ft. Justin Bieber - Where are u now
Major Lazer & Dj Snake ft. MO - Lean on
Carly Rae Jepsen - I really like you
Iggy Azalea ft. Jennifer Hudson - Trouble

Till the next beat…

At Ease!!!

Best Hip-Hop/R&B/Rap Ballads of All Time

Attention!!!

The ascension of Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth's See You Again to the top of the charts in both the UK and the US shows that the era of hip-hop/r&b/rap ballads is not completely over. These songs are set apart from the average hip-hop/r&b/rap songs from the fact that there is a fixed structure for them, with the highly personalized rap verses accompanied by an even more emotional chorus mostly by a set of powerful haunting vocals by a featured artist. Eminem is the king of such ballads as his experiment with the structure by sampling the chorus of Dido's Thank You in Stan and featuring Dido herself in the song proved to be a massive commercial success which was also adored by the critics. His entrance to the sub-genre in the early 2000s laid the foundation for the monumental hits to come over the years which took on the form of hip-hop ballads. The female favorite to accompany Eminem on these ballads is Rihanna who has also proven herself as a vocal powerhouse with Jay-Z and Kanye West. Jay-Z, Kanye West, Tinie Tempah and B.o.B are also ardent fans of the hip-hop ballads releasing several throughout their career.

Love The Way You Lie by Eminem & Rihanna takes the crown with B.o.B ft. Hayley Williams' Airplanes takes second place. Interestingly at third place it is once again the king and queen with their hit The Monster. Eminem has the highest number of entries on the list with 7 with Rihanna and Tinie Tempah having 6 entries each. B.o.B, Bruno Mars, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, Rita Ora, Nelly, Travie McCoy and the Black Eyed Peas all have several entries on the list. So here are the 50 Best Hip-Hop/R&B/Rap Ballads of All Time:

Eminem ft. Rihanna – Love the way you lie
B.o.B ft. Hayley Williams – Airplanes
Eminem ft. Rihanna – The monster
Black Eyed Peas – Where is the love?
Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys – Empire state of mind
Nelly ft. Kelly Rowland – Dilemma
Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth – See you again
Tinie Tempah ft. Eric Turner – Written in the stars
Jay-Z ft. Rihanna & Kanye West – Run this town
T.I. ft. Rihanna – Live your life
Professor Green ft. Emeli Sande – Read all about it
Rita Ora ft. Tinie Tempah – R.I.P.
B.o.B. ft. Bruno Mars – Nothin’ on you
Eminem ft. Dido – Stan
Gym Class Heroes ft. Adam Levine – Stereo hearts
Nelly – Just a dream
Travie McCoy ft. Bruno Mars – Billionaire
Jay-Z ft. Justin Timberlake – Holy grail
Labrinth ft. Emeli Sande – Beneath your beautiful
T.I. ft. Justin Timberlake – Dead and gone
Iggy Azalea ft. Rita Ora – Black widow
Bad Meets Evil ft. Bruno Mars – Lighters
Lil Wayne ft. Bruno Mars – Mirror
Chipmunk ft. Chris Brown – Champion
Dr. Dre ft. Eminem & Skylar Grey – I need a doctor
Diddy-Dirty Money ft. Skylar Grey – Coming home
Black Eyed Peas – Meet me halfway
Alicia Keys ft. Nicki Minaj – Girl on fire
Tinchy Stryder ft. N-Dubz – Number 1
Kanye West ft. Rihanna – All of the lights
Keri Hilson ft. Kanye West & Ne-Yo – Knock you down
B.o.B ft. Taylor Swift – Both of us
Labrinth ft. Tinie Tempah – Earthquake
Tinchy Stryder ft. Amelle Berrabah – Never leave you
Tinie Tempah ft. John Martin – Children of the sun
Nicki Minaj ft. Rihanna – Fly
Tinie Tempah ft. Ellie Goulding – Wonderman
Gym Class Heroes ft. Ryan Tedder – The fighter
Eminem ft. Sia – Guts over fear
Professor Green ft. Lily Allen – Just be good to green
Tinchy Stryder ft. Pixie Lott – Bright lights
Eminem ft. Lil Wayne – No love
Gym Class Heroes ft. Neon Hitch – Ass back home
Nicki Minaj – Girls fall like dominoes
Sean Paul ft. Kelly Rowland – How deep is your love
Travie McCoy ft. Jason Mraz – Rough water
T.I. ft. Keri Hilson – Got your back
Eminem ft. Nate Ruess – Headlights
Eric Turner ft. Tinie Tempah & Lupe Fiasco – Angels and stars
Pitbull ft. Kelly Rowland & Jamie Drastik – Castle made of sand

Till the next ballad…

At Ease!!!

Best Male Rappers of All Time

Attention!!!

Rapping is an art in itself. Although those of you who love the 60s, 70s and the 80s may think that rap should not even be considered as music, you are so wrong. While there are unbearable rap songs there are really good ones as well. Rappers more or less speak about their lives through music. And almost all of them use aliases, stage names and alter egos than their ordinary names. However, one thing is for sure it is pretty subjective on who is good at rapping and who is not. I pretty much judged them based on their speed and the ability to maintain pitch. The heavyweights in the industry are Eminem, Kanye West, T.I. and last but definitely not lease Jay-Z. Busta Rhymes takes the crown mostly for the reason that he impressed me so much on his verse in Look At Me Now. And understand that the list is compiled based on their talent and not the success they have had on the charts or the accolades they have received. So here are the Best 50 Male Rappers of All Time: