From the beginning, it was obvious that Houston would lead a musical life. Her mother, Cissy Houston, was a legendary gospel singer; and her godmother, Aretha Franklin, was one of the greatest soul singers of all time.

Houston followed her mother’s steps and started singing in the church choir. Over time, she was given more opportunities to attend performances or sing with other music artists and groups. At the age of 22, Houston released her debut album, “Whitney Houston”. This album included “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”, which is still one of her more famous songs. At the age of 23, Houston attended the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards. While there, she won Best Female Video for her song “How Will I Know”.

Although her debut album launched her career and became one of the biggest-selling albums by a debut musician, it was Houston’s performance of “I Will Always Love You” in the movie The Bodyguard that helped her to become one of the best-selling artists ever. The song topped billboard charts and sold 44 million copies. It also earned her a Movie Award for Best Song during the 1996 MTV Music Awards.

Houston’s career began to wane in 1993 when she started to become involved in drug-use. By 1996, she was rumored to be using drugs on a daily basis. For the next nine years, Houston struggled with her addiction. She was in and out of rehab. Her performances began to suffer and her voice began to lose its strength. In 2009, she tried to make a comeback with her album “I Look to You”. The album was received well, but it was not enough to restore the star to her former glory.

Since Houston’s death was announced news and sales have skyrocketed.

Stories about the artist’s life, death, famous moments and drug addiction have surpassed other popular topics like the Grammy’s, Justin Bieber and iphone jailbreak news.

Right now, twenty-eight of her songs are the top 100 list for iTunes sells. “I Will Always Love You” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” are numbers 1 and 9 on list, in front of artists like Adele and Katy Perry. This surge in sales is similar to what happens after the death of other famous artists like Amy Winehouse and Michael Jackson.

This year the movie “Sparkle” will be released which features Houston’s final performance.

During her early years, Houston was a star of brilliant magnitude. As drugs began to take their toll her sparkle began to fade. In spite of that, Whitney Houston has left behind a legacy of soul and stirring songs. The star may have faded but she will continue to shine.

The most obvious surprise was MIA’s impromptu flip of the bird and muffled expletive during one song. NBC’s five-second-delay–which is supposed to be a buffer for the unexpected–was not enough time to censor the incident, and it was broadcast to approximately 111 million TV viewers. Of course, this is all anyone can talk about and the Internet is blowing up with tweets, posts, and opinions. NBC issued an apology immediately after the Super Bowl ended, but this was not enough to undo what had already been done for some people.

Madonna’s halftime show also exhibited some great talent in the form of pop sensation Nicki Minaj and party rockers LMFAO; to name a few. Did you see that guy with the windmill leg?! We are not sure whether to be impressed or disturbed. World record holding slackliner and highliner Andy Lewis also made a debut; performing a series of gymnastics and stunts on a slackline, while wearing a toga! We don’t know how Madonna found him, but we’re glad she did. We loved it!

Madonna’s Roman/Grecian themed performance was cutting-edge, but not over the top. The costumes were actually pretty conservative compared to what we’ve seen from other music artists (*cough*Lady*Gaga*cough). We also think Madonna pulled off her sexy black ensemble better than anyone else in the show. We find it hard to believe that the singer is 53 years old after seeing her bounce, cartwheel, drop it, and prance all over the stage.

Another controversy surrounding the performance was whether or not Madonna lip synced most of the songs. This and all other controversies aside, we thought Madonna put on a great show. It was definitely better than some Super Bowl halftime shows we’ve seen in the recent past. Madonna exited the stage in theatrical fashion leaving us all with her parting message, “World Peace!”

We weren’t at all surprised to see names like VV Brown, Rufus Wainwright, Skylar Grey, and Ingrid Michaelson, These artists having been tearing it up in the past and we expect to see them only get bigger and better.

VV Brown started her music career at the age of 18. In order to make her dreams of becoming a pop star come true, Brown turned down scholarships and prestigious universities; including the notorious Oxford. Her upcoming album “Lollipops and Politics” will be released on February 7th and promises to make quite a bang.

Ever since she teamed up with artists like Eminem, Rihanna, and Christina Aguilera; Skylar Grey has been making waves in the music industry and in her career. She released an album this month called “Invinsible”, which could be the next big thing to launch her career and bring home the platinum.

We aren’t as confident about long-lived fame as, artist Kreayshawn is. She found overnight success when her song, “Gucci Gucci” garnered around 3 million views on YouTube in 2011. Even an explosively popular song like “Gucci Gucci” will only stay at the top of the charts for so long. We’re interested to see if Kreayshawn’s upcoming album will have the kind of dynamite she needs to stay afloat among the competition.

Even after fifteen years, Damien Jurado still has a lot to offer the music world. The acclaimed artist will be releasing his 10th album, “Maraqopa” sometime in February. The album promises to have more variety than just the Indie Folk that Jurado is typically known for performing. With the help of producer and instrumentalist, Richard Swift, Jurado promises to show off styles of dub and psych-rock.

Other artists on MSN’s list are Kathleen Edwards, Chiddy Bang, Lana Del Rey, Guided by Voices, Craig Finn, Foxy Shazam, Mark Lanegan Band, Lee Ranaldo, Die Antwoord, Dirty Projectors, Estelle, Galactic, Dr. Dog, Howlin Rain, The Stone Roses, and
Rodrigo y Gabriela.

Watch out 2012! Music has several new and old big names in town. Only time will tell who can push past the hype, competition and illusive fame to come out on top.

If you haven’t had the chance to witness LMFAO’s performance at the 2011 AMAs a few weeks ago, you may want to find some time tonight to check it out online.

Performing their smash hits, “Party Rock Anthem” and “Sexy and I Know It” as the closing act of the award show, the group lit up the stage and turned LA’s Nokia Arena into one giant party. Not only that, but Justin Bieber got in on LMFAO’s act as well.

Bieber was able to show off a few dance moves on center stage at the very end of “Party Rock Anthem,” much to the delight of viewers and his fans (but probably not his alleged baby mama).

Here are a few of the other highlights from the evening, including:

J-Lo’s Performance

In what ended up being the most provocative performance of the night, J-Lo treated those in attendance at the 2011 AMAs and those viewing at home to an interesting act of her hit “On the Floor”, that started with her walking out on stage in a leopard-printed bodysuit.

Needless to say, by the end of the performance, the girl from the Bronx was basically nude and loving every minute of it. But that shouldn’t come as a surprise with J-Lo right? Hey, she did a good job of losing all that pregnancy weight….that’s for sure.

Bruno Upsets Justin

In what was the biggest upset of the night, Bruno Mars beat out The Bieber for the “Favorite Male Artist of the Year” award.

Although Bruno Mars is probably quite deserving of the ward after the year he had, my vote would have gone for Pitbull who was also in the running for the award.

Katy Put On the Spot

Here’s a quick trivia question for you. Who tied Micahel Jackson for the most No.1 singles to come from one album??? The answer, is none other than Katy Perry!

And for that accomplishment, Katy actually received the “Special Achievement Award.” Better yet, Katy seemed quite shocked and surprised when she was handed her trophy by Heidi Klum after performing her latest hit, “The One That Got Away.”

Whether the “surprise” was all part of the and staged, or truthfully something that Katy didn’t know about beforehand is anyone’s guess. As for the the 5 hits, they include:

-”California Gurls”
-”Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F>)”
-”Firework”
-”E.T.”
-”The One That Got Away”

Final Word

As always, the 2011 edition of the AMAs produced quite the lively show. After all, its hard not too when you get the best and most eccentric music personalities around the world onto one stage and into one building.

What a week for allegations right?

First we hear that Presidential-hopeful, Herman Cain, has tried to sexually harass multiple women over the years. Then if that weren’t crazy enough, news broke over the weekend that Penn St. football coach and college football icon, Joe Paterno, covered up a sexual molestation scandal that involved his former assistant coach for over 9 years now.

And last but not least, 20-year old, Mariah Yeater, is claiming that Justin Bieber is the father of her 3-month old son! That being said, there is one major difference between the Bieber case and the other two.

That difference is this – the accusers of Cain and Paterno/Sandusky have the evidence to back up their claims. Yeater doesn’t…or at least not until the paternity test is taken.

Yeater’s Interview

Yesterday, ‘The Insider’ aired their interview with Yeater on national television. Needless to say, they didn’t get much out of Yeater as she broke down sobbing after, well, just about every question the host asked. Okay, so it wasn’t that bad, but there was a lot of crying and running off the set involved during the interview.

Not only that, but when Yeater did say something, her answers weren’t very coherent. You think she’d be able to piece together the events of that fateful night (or nights) 12 months ago when she had intercourse with Bieber.

Perhaps the cameras and spotlight got to Yeater. But her story seems to have quite a few cracks. This begs the question, could Yeater possibly be making the story up?

Whom to Believe?

If Yeater is making up this story, why is she doing it?! Why would you go public with a story that you are Justin Bieber’s baby’s mama? I mean, some girls are definitely in need of a lot of attention. But this is going a little overboard, if you ask me.

According to Yeater, she tried to contact “Bieber’s camp” to talk to somebody about the situation, but to no avail. On the flip side, Bieber has repeatedly said that he has no idea who Yeater is, and is definitely willing to take a paternity test to prove that he is not the father of her child.

Countering, Yeater said that she is certain the paternity test will be able to shed the truth behind her allegations. According to one website, Bieber will take the paternity test in a few weeks once he is back from his current tour.

My Guess

If I were to place a bet on Yeater’s side of the story, or Bieber’s, I would have to go with Bieber. After watching an excerpt of Yeater’s interview, it was hard NOT to jump to the conclusion that his girl is probably a bit psychotic.

After all, if Bieber was really worried that he were the father, wouldn’t he be less willing to take that paternity test? Either way, if the results of that test are positive, who knows what kind of impact it could have on Bieber, his brand, his friends, and most importantly his girlfriend, Selena Gomez.

Needless to say, I’m definitely going to keep an eye out for the results of the test…and I’m not even a Bieber fan, or hater, for that matter. I guess I just like celebrity gossip…especially when it involves a completely random girl coming out and saying that Justin Bieber is the father of her child!

Late last night, Death Cab for Cutie’s Been Gibbard and Elf actress/She and Him singer, Zooey Deschanel, announced that they were splitting after a two-year marriage.

Fittingly, both of these “indie” artists have sung about plenty of breakups in their songs, and now they will have to go through a real-life breakup of their own.

Sad Fans

There will surely be plenty of sad fans out in the world today that will be bummed once they learn about Deschanel and Gibbard’s decision to split last night.

According to several sources, the decision was mutual between the former husband and wife, and that there was no third-party involved in the decision-making process.

That being said, the breakup was definitely somewhat surprising considering what Deschanel said in a July interview with iVillage when asked about her time away from Gibbard.

“Probably the most surprising thing is that it’s not really that different,” said Deschanel about married life in the interivew. “You still have to make a commitment and think about that commitment every day. You get married, and you’re still in a relationship and you’re still doing your best to make it the best relationship you can.”

A Week of Breakups

The news of Deschanel and Gibbard splitting, comes just days after Kim Khardasian and Kris Humphries announced their short-lived marriage was ending (well after Kim announced her decision, Kris found out like the rest of us after TMZ broke the story, gulp!). In both cases, the lack of communication due to the time spent away from each other probably played a big role in the splits.

This makes you wonder how celebrity marriages actually survive. There are a few couples that seem to have things figured out, such as Seal and Heidi Klum, or Faith Hill and Tim Mcgraw, but these married-to-each-other celebs are probably the exception.

Heck, if Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher can’t survive, then who can?!

And going back to Kim and Kris’s split, reports are now surfacing that both of them have raked in over $15 million from their 72-day marriage. For Kim, that’s probably nothing….but for Kris, and with no end to the NBA Lockout in sight, he made himself a pretty hefty paycheck – even if he didn’t get the girl in the end.

Rhianna’s latest hit, “We Found Love,” and its music video have the entire music world abuzz. Fittingly, the story portrayed in the video is one that almost anyone can relate to according to Rhianna.

Addicted To Drugs and Love

In the video, Rhianna’s character is addicted to both drugs and a man that she can’t let go of(played by British boxer/model Dudley O’Shaughnessy). Supposedly, the music video is suppose to portray a warning to viewers of the mess they can get themselves into with drug and love.

Not surprisingly, the idea for this music video was probably influenced by Rhianna’s turmoil relationship with Chris Brown, who she broke up with after being severely beaten and abused.

Good Moral?

So, I get the whole part about being not addicted to drugs, I mean, that’s a given right? Drugs can completely destroy anyone who becomes ensnared in its deadly grasp.

But I’m not so sure I follow the warning to stay away from true love. Maybe I’m misinterpreting what Rhianna is trying to say here.

Maybe she’s saying that we shouldn’t become addicted to a relationship which compromises our emotional and mental well-being and judgement. After all, she learned this lesson the hard way.

But still, if this isn’t the case, and she is advocating that we protect ourselves from love, isn’t this sending the wrong message? Shouldn’t we be looking for that special someone that we can confide in? Aren’t two heads better than one in life…especially when they are in love?

Okay, sorry, I’m done with the rhetorical questions. But alas, this message that Rhianna is portraying truly does follow society’s view towards love these days.

Only In It For Self

In a day and age where commitment in relationships has become an ancient fairy tale, its no wonder we don’t get more of these “don’t truly love” messages in pop culture and media.

Am I right, or am I wrong (There I go again with the rhetorical question)? It seems to me, that the status quo with relationships has become this: “Stay in a relationship if it benefits you and you’re happy. But you can always drop things if its takes up too much effort and time.”

This attitude that the world has is precisely why love is getting undermined. It’s why divorce rates are so high. It’s also why you see so much co-habitation today, where couples tend to live together without ever getting married.

It’s the idea that you should look for a relationship, but always have an escape plan in the background as well.

Final Word

I hope I’m not dogging on Rhianna and her music video too much in this post. She’s a great talent that is just trying to share with her fans a lesson she’s felt she’s learned from her own life.

That’s the neat thing about music. You get to express your thoughts and feelings through the words and notes that you sing and play. But still, I hope some of us are realizing that our idea of a healthy relationship is somewhat skewed.

Love is not about taking the easy way out, or making sure that you’re always the beneficiary party. It’s about commitment, enduring through tough times without quitting, and making sure that you thoroughly enjoy the good times.

If you would like to see “We Found Love,” click here to check it out on YouTube.

Hey who cares what the critics think right?

After reading the average-at-best reviews for Lil Wayne’s newest album, “Tha Carter IV”, many music gurus and fans promptly went out and made the album No.1 on the Billboard for the weeks of September 17 and September 24.

“Tha Carter IV” has sold 964,000 units, making it the most sold hip-hop and male-artist album ever in terms of first-week sales. Much of its success may have come from the fact that the album was “leaked” before it officially went on sale, allowing for “the word of mouth” to spread its acclaim before it even hit the shelves.

No.3 for Lil Wayne

For Lil Wayne, his latest album marked his third sojourn to the top of the Billboards Chart, with the first two accomplishments being “Tha Carter III” and “I Am Not A Human Being.”

He had this to say, recently, to MTV about his latest hit and its leak, saying, “It just means people want to hear it. I mean, ’cause there’re people’s albums that come out that can be leaked and don’t leak, so I’m glad mine’s leaked.”

Other Billboard News

Currently, “Tha Carter IV” sits at No.3 on the Chart, with Lady Antebellum’s “Own The Night” coming in at No.1 after recenlty debuting. “Own The Night” also garnered the top spot on the Country Albums, Digital Albums, and Canadian Albums Charts as well.

And not to be left behind, Adele’s “21″ is still holding strong at the No.2 spot.”21″ came in at No.1 for the week of August 20, and has been in the Top 4 ever since.

If you want to take a look at the various Charts, including the Billboard 200, just go ahead and check out www.billboard.com for all the latest hits and news. The website even offers its visitors the chance to listen to their favorite artists and top hits.

Taking Over the VMAs

Now scheduled to perform at the next VMAs on Aug. 28th of this year, modern American and the rest of the world are waiting in anticipation to see what Gaga will deliver. After meat dresses, bathing in blood during her Monster Ball tour, throwing her red platform shoe on stage as a judge on “So You Think You Can Dance,” and filming a music video with Jesus and Judas, we don’t exactly know what to expect from this bare-it-all rock star.

MTV met up with Gaga to film a VMA promo. As Lady Gaga sits down to the piano, she comments that she’s, “glad [her] friends are there.” MTV filmed the star interacting with friends and performing a Jazz rendition of “You and I,” off of her latest album. Gaga wanted the promo to be real, because she believes that her and her friends often live in a world between reality and fantasy and wanted to capture this side of their existence. Gaga claims that the video shows her with friends talking about music, art, and fashion just as they usually do.

Promo Video

For a slightly risque promo for the upcoming VMAs watch the video below. From high school stage to topping the music charts for months in a row, I think we all have something to look forward to on August 28th.

What do you predict will be Gaga’s move at this year’s VMAs?

Political Rap

This genre was developed in the 80′s, with The Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron, Public Enemy being some of the first. Most songs that fall under this category aim at inspiring rappers to address social and political issues. Common artists that fall under this category include: Immortal Technique, Dead Prez, and Looptroop.

“Chill” Non-Vocal

Chill music, or “chillout” came from the early 90s. The term Chill was used to describe any “mellow, slow-tempo music made by contemporary producers in the electronic music scene.” Common artists for this one: Lux, Massive Attack, and Afterlife.

Death Metal

Death metal, or american death metal, is an extreme sub-genre of heavy metal. Most music that falls under this genre has loud drums, distorted guitars, deep heavy vocals, and multiple tempo changes. The genre originated in the 80′s with modern artists including Oceano, Suicide Silence, and Winds of Plague.

Speed Metal

Speed metal, or cybergrind, is an extremely fast passed sub-genre of heavy metal. This genre is related to death metal and mathcore genres. Modern artists include Plague and Abramelin.

Hoomii

Hoomii is Mongolian throat singing. This is definitely an extreme genre of music. For most people this genre is very difficult. A throat singer can produce two and even four notes at one time giving the effect of a deep sound, medium pitch sound, and high pitch all at the same time. A full orchestra from one person.