In 2003, a new name surfaced in the rap industry: 50 Cent. Although his music career started about 5 years earlier than the said date, it was only in that year this rapper gained fame. His album “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” included the singles “In da Club” that peaked the US and UK charts. This single was also the key to his 46th Grammy Awards nomination for the Best Male Rap Solo Performance category. “P.I.M.P.”, another single included in the said album, also hit the charts at number 1. He has had remixes of the song “P.I.M.P.” which included Snoop Dogg and other well-known rap artists. Currently, he is working on a new album entitled “Before I Self Destruct”.

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Some people have talent. Some people don’t. Rapper Missy Elliott surely belongs to the first classification. With the release of “Step Up 2 the Streets” soundtrack for the movie with the same working title, two of Missy Elliott’s singles have been included in the 17 track release. This 5 time Grammy awardee is the only female rapper who has garnered 6 platinum awards according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

The “Step Up 2 the Streets” soundtrack has received a lot of praises, and its sales peaked at 31,000 from the first week of its release. Missy Elliott’s “Ching-a-ling” is currently the lead single in the said album.

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Caribbean rhythm has long been an influence to urban music. Urban music has been predominantly reggae, rhythms composed of upbeat tunes, but the difference between the original reggae music and urban music can be clearly distinguished by the different kinds of drums used in the song.

Today, the likes of Sean Paul, Shaggy, Beenie Man and Sean Kingston (who grew in Jamaica) include different mixing and scratching techniques in their songs, and these techniques can render different results. With studio mixes, we have seen that it is not impossible to make a ballad song sound like dancehall (artists sometimes make remixes of their own songs).

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Usher is by far the leading R&B artist of the century. He has had a lot of number 1 singles up in the charts not to mention the millions of girls screaming at his concerts. His smooth style plus versatility indeed captured the attention of R&B, as well as non-R&B lovers. His career track started in 1994 but, his singles only peaked at 25 in the charts. 1997 was the start of his “top charts” year with the song entitled “You Make Me Wanna”. Luck came his way in 2004 as he had 4 number 1 singles, all from his album entitled “Yeah!”. Most people say that Usher is a real performer because he can sing magnificently with his smooth voice and dance as well, in his MTV videos.

Reports says that pop star Beyonce and rap mogul, Shawn Carter, alias Jay-Z, are bound to be married soon. According to some sources, the couple went to New York state to get a marriage license, which is valid within 60 days.

 Beyonce, 26, one of the members of Destiny’s Child and now is in  a solo music career since 2003. She, by the way, is also an actress who starred in films such as The Pink Panther Dreamgirls. Jay-Z, 38, on the other hand, is a former head of Def Jam records and has sold more than 35 million albums as a rapper since 1996. He also helped launch the pop career of Barbadian star Rihanna whose 2007 song “Umbrella” was a worldwide hit. If reports are true, this is an exciting union of two of the brightest stars today. 

To all dance and club fanatics, probably this song’s familiar to you, but to those who aren’t, then you must have heard this song some way or another on the radio or in music television. This song has hit the US Hot 100 by storm and was able to acquire the top spot for 10 weeks straight. Flo Rida featured T-Pain, and their team-up resulted to a single that has a mix of heavy dance beats and rap.

Flo Rida also has other hit singles namely “Elevator” featuring artist Timbaland, and “Roll”, featuring Sean Kingston.

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