I have to admit, I wasn't too clued in to the Guitar Hero craze until I went to my cousin's house this weekend and tried out the Xbox version.  Man, this game is off the hook!  The controller works looks like a guitar and you can actually shred to tons of songs you know and love.  Now I'm hearing there's a new version coming out next month, which features Slash and songs by Rage Against the Machine, Queens of the Stone Age, Pearl Jam, Slayer, Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers and more!  SWEET!

Now we've all heard about Detox, Dr. Dre's legendary album that's been like 6 years in the making.  Bootleg samples have been all over the net, but the record still has yet to see the light of day.  Now Dre's finally talking with some good news and some bad news.

The Good News: He claims the official Detox release will happen early next year and he's hyping it as his best work yet.

The Bad News: He's also hyping it as his LAST work, claiming that it may very well be his final solo album.  According to Dre, rhyming's a "young man's game" and he's looking at producing only from this point forward.  Not the news we were looking for but hey, in today's rap game, retirement's just another word for taking a temporary break. 

Ok, so I couldn't decide between Kanye and 50, so I got BOTH!  And they were both pretty good.  Solid tracks on each, a good sampling of guest stars, and some fun enhancement DVD features.  But one thing that definitely struck me about Kanye's Graduation is the funky Japanese artwork scattered throughout.

The bug-eyed bear, the purple skies, the trippy mushrooms.  This packaging was sweet and even came with a funny poster of the bear wearing Kanye's trademark glasses.  So I say get the album for the music, but don't miss the interesting cartoons inside….definitely some characters that can give the Gorillaz a run for their money.

What do you get when you put these letters together D-R-E-A-D-F-U-L those letters together sum up Twista’s new album, “Adrenaline Rush 2007” on Atlantic Records. Twista is one of the few talented rappers in the game that can spit lyrical quickly and still be articulate at the same time. However this album that has features from Lil Wayne, T-Pain, R. Kelly, Bone Thugs N Harmony and Pharrell is bad with a capital “B”.

The CD, “Adrenaline Rush” has a balance of commercial hip-hop to street hip hop but it still lacks that something that makes it interesting and great.   One of the core reasons why the CD is so bad is because Twista had one primary producer do the majority of the album and this person who I will not name is no Timbaland. The first single, “Give It Up” produced and featuring Pharrell is the only deceit song on the album. They have a few other run of the mill songs on the CD but none that really stand out.

 
Overall I give Twista’s CD, “Adrenaline Rush” 2 ($$) dollar signs because it was simply uninteresting. Even with the guest features on the album they still bring no value or creative music stimulation. Twista’s last song on the album is called “TROUBLE” and that’s a perfect song to close the CD with. The Saga is OVER!!!

http://www.myspace.com/twista

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http://entertainment.sitv.com/blogs/musicman

Young R&B/Pop Boy Band, B5 made an atrocious first week debut at #28 selling only 19,329 units of their Bad Boy/Atlantic Records sophomore CD, “Don’t Talk, Just Listen”.  The CD executive produced by “P.Diddy” could have done a lot better if they just piggy backed on the Kanye vs 50 promotion and targeted young girls who went out last week to purchase either hip-hop CD and offered them a free limited edition B5 calendar to the first 50,000 customers who purchased their CD. I just don’t get it but I digress. Anyway B5’s contagious first video & single, “Hydrolics” featuring Bow Wow was a popular song with the young chick-a-dee’s and at contemporary/top 40 radio.

The CD, “Don’t Talk, Just Listen” is actually not bad if you like light R&B/Pop leaning music. You have major production by heavy hitters like The Underdogs, Bryan-Michael Cox, Mario Winans to Fred Crawford. They have a total of 13 tracks on the CD and I would say at least half of them are satisfactory. However they have one song called “All Over Again” that is a total smash and if released will be that hit single that can take their career to the next level.

To conclude I give B5’s CD “Don’t Talk, Just Listen” 2 ½ ($$/$) dollar signs simply because I like these young soldiers and don’t want to dog their 2^nd efforts in trying to hit it big. They definitely aren’t the best vocalist and would be considered singing and dancing puppets for Diddy since their not making any money off publishing because they don’t write their music…but they do seem like a genuine group of brothers who want to make a mark and do it without demeaning ladies or perpetrating the life of thugs to boost record sells. So for that I’m going give them a pass and cross my fingers that Diddy will give them a second single and put some money behind them to actually break them because he definitely didn’t do it for Danity Kane or Cheri Dennis.

http://www.myspace.com/b5online

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http://entertainment.sitv.com/blogs/musicman