I need to book a flight to NYC fast! Tupac’s life and music is the inspiration behind a new musical that will begin casting soon in New York City. “Holler If Ya Hear Me,” a project being directed by Broadway director Kenny Leon , will feature the late rapper’s songs and is being described as an “American musical inspired by and featuring the music Tupac Shakur.”Leon previously discussed the project late in 2011. “A long time ago, maybe eight or nine years ago, I’ve been talking about that with Tupac’s mother, Afeni, and so we’ve become fans of each other and she sort of entrusted me with her son’s music” Leon said. “The idea was always to make a musical inspired by his music and not to do an autobiographical approach to his life or anything like that. And because I always thought that Tupac was a prophet and I thought if everybody could hear his words and hear his stories, they would see what I see.”
Soul songstress Mary J. Blige candidly spoke about not only her feelings about Whitney Houston’s death, but about her own former drug demons as she sat in for Whoopie Goldberg on Tuesday’s ABC-TV’s talk show ‘The View.’ Blige, who is known for not holding her tongue when it comes to speaking her mind, reflected on the recent passing of Houston, who had been a great influence in her life. Blige admitted that she never attends funerals because she was traumatized by them as a child but felt compelled to go to Houston’s because they were so close: “This was really sad because Whitney was everything to women like us,” she lamented. Blige even divulged a conversation that she had with Houston about how important she was to the world. “I got a chance to express to [Whitney] what I felt about her and how I didn’t like seeing her like that.” Blige was referring to Houston’s much publicized battles with drug addiction. The 41-year-old singer, songwriter has in the past, discussed in detail her struggles with cocaine and alcohol. Blige told her co-hosts, Barbara Walters , Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Joy Behar , how she almost died from her drug habit. The actress and fragrance entrepreneur who admitted, “I’ve never done crack,” said her self-destructive lifestyle was formed by the role models she had as a child. “In my family, as a child, all we saw was people getting drunk.” Rehab was not an option for Blige, who instead says that she gave her life to God to help get her off drugs and liquor because she almost died. She pleaded with God because “He is real in my life,” she said. RELATED: Whitney Houston Celebrated At Funeral [PHOTOS & VIDEO] Mary J. Blige Talks Infamous Nightclub Fight With Hubby On “Wendy” [VIDEO] Mary J Blige Talks “My Life II” On Chelsea Lately Mary J. Blige Discusses Heavy D’s Passing, “My Life II” [EXCLUSIVE] Mary J. Blige: “What Happened To Amy Winehouse, Could’ve Been Me”
Please and Thank You! During a 1982 world tour, Van Halen, a famous rock band in the 80′s made the now-legendary demand that all brown M&Ms be removed from candy bowls in their dressing rooms. Ever since, fans and critics have made a hobby of finding celebrities’ often outlandish demand lists, called riders; for what venues must provide them during appearances. This week, Super Bowl bird-flipper M.I.A.’s tour rider leaked and it was full of fawkery! Buried among requests for Vitamin Water and European cheeses is the demand for “three women between the ages of 20 and 25 to dance on stage wearing full-body burqas.” So here’s a look back at ten of the most ridiculous items on other celebrity riders…
While making an appearance on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live,” Mary J. Blige was asked by a caller if she’s had any work done. Mary J. Blige’s response was hard to decipher; what do you think? Check out what she had to say in this clip, and hear her talk about her favorite artists of today. RELATED POSTS: Mary J. Blige’s Top 10 Songs Ever Mary J. Blige “Mr. Wrong” [NEW VIDEO]
While making an appearance on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live,” Mary J. Blige was asked by a caller if she’s had any work done. Mary J. Blige’s response was hard to decipher; what do you think? Check out what she had to say in this clip, and hear her talk about her favorite artists of today. RELATED POSTS: Mary J. Blige’s Top 10 Songs Ever Mary J. Blige “Mr. Wrong” [NEW VIDEO]
Mary J. Blige just dropped her tenth album, My Life II… The Journey Continues (Act 1), at the end of 2011. Grooving to it got us the thinking of her many classics—so much so that bam, a top 10 list had to be whipped up. Where do we begin (or end)? Since the early ‘90s MJB’s been spewing out soulful, yet hardcore tales of hate, infidelity, abuse, and more recently, true love. Check out our list of the top 10 Mary J. Blige songs below and sound off on whether you agree or not in the comments section. 10. All That I Can Say Lauryn Hill injected some mellow into Blige’s usually frantic delivery, penning the lyrics for Mary ’s first single. This one finds Mary blissful, hopping from one cloud to the next while tossing compliments to some lucky guy. 9. Just Fine “I like what I see when I’m looking at me when I’m walking past the mirror,” Mary sings joyfully. What? Yeah, this is the same lady that spent the first decade of her musical career howling at the demons in her closet. By the time this, the lead single from her eighth album Growing Pains dropped, Blige’s life apparently was just fine. She was a few years into her seemingly blissful marriage with husband and manager Kendu Isaacs. This is what happiness gave Mary, a bouncing dance smash. Surprisingly, Mary wears cheer well. 8. Everything Mary falls deep into a flowery pit of love on this Stylistics-sampling single. She was years away from finding her future husband, but effortlessly sings of her everything here. 7. Enough Cryin’ Grown and needing a lot more than promises to please her, Mary’s fed up with the lies of a man afraid to put a ring on it. And instead of staying and arguing, she’s packing up and bouncing out of his life to producer Rodney Jerkins’ booming bass and strings. Her rapping alter ego, Brook Lynn, also makes a solid lyrical appearance—shouting out a pair of designer shoes and telling the chump where to find her when he comes to his senses. 6. Family Affair This early oughts jam marked the start of Mary pushing negativity to the side in favor of club-ready bangers. Fittingly, it came from her fifth album entitled No More Drama . The Dr. Dre-produced single topped Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, as well as their Pop and R&B charts. 5. I’m Goin’ Down Mary’s cover of the Rose Royce Carwash ballad is so marvelous that when others sing it today, most think hers is the original. “Down” is from her sophomore set My Life , an album mostly about being in the dumps when it comes to love. Here, along with the next cut on this list, is where you hear her heart ache the loudest. 4. My Life The title track from her sophomore album is arguably the most hopeful and gloomy on the set. As she’s confessed since, My Life was recorded during the roughest period of her life. She was adjusting to fame, in an abusive relationship with K-Ci of K-Ci and JoJo, and on drugs. Still, she looked to a higher power and sung of better days ahead. 3. Not Gon’ Cry Mary plays the character of a scorned wife here. And though she wasn’t actually married in real life, she sure did wail on the Waiting to Exhale single like a hubby of 11 years did her wrong and stepped out on her. But instead of just wallowing in self-pity, she keeps a stiff upper lip. “Should’ve left your ass [a] long time ago,” she sings walking away from the man she once stood by proudly. “You’re not worth my tears.” This is the Mary—showing strength even during periods of turmoil—we’d love for years to come. 2. Be Without You Usually Mary’s on the brink of a failed relationship, which soon tanks. On the first single from The Breakthrough she powers through all rough patches with the kind of muscle only love can provide. “We’ve been too strong for to long,” Blige reminds her man on the hook. There’s no quit in her anymore. 1. Real Love Sampling Audio Two’s “Top Billing,” the second single from Blige’s classic debut, What’s the 411 , found the rookie singer searching for the kind of affection that would elude her for years to come. It also birthed the sound she’d become the reigning queen of: Hip-Hop Soul. Agree? Did we miss something? Let us know. RELATED STORIES: Did VH1 Divas Celebrates Soul Live Up To Expectations? [VIDEO] Mary J Blige “Mr. Wrong” [NEW VIDEO]
Here are some more excerpts from MJB’s interview with Piers Morgan …this time she discusses how she wish she grew up like Beyonce: Mary J. Blige wishes she had Beyonce’s stable upbringing, insisting her life and career would have been less rocky if her parents had stayed together. The Crazy In Love hitmaker is famously close to her parents, Mathew and Tina Knowles, who helped manage her career from her early days in Destiny’s Child. Blige, whose father left her mother when she was four, admits she envies the singer’s happy childhood as her own was so drastically different, and she believes she would have thrived if her parents had not divorced. Blige tells Cnn’s Piers Morgan, “You gotta look at a life like that (Beyonce’s), with a mother and a father and a child and they’re raising and they’re in the music business with her where there is just so many vultures and people who don’t ever tell you the truth… and to look at her life, and to look at how graceful and beautiful and what a lady she is, it just inspired me. “It made me a little sad because I wish I had that growing up, I wish my mom and dad had been together and I wish that they could have saw (sic) me through the music business and managed me and who knows how much further I would be and how much hell I wouldn’t have gone through.” Beyonce’s parents split in 2009 following allegations that Mathew Knowles fathered a love child with another woman. Hmmmmm…thoughts? Source
