Michael Jackson

Questlove Believes Beyoncé Has ‘Made Her ‘Off The Wall” With ‘Renaissance’

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Questlove The Roots 2022 Film Independent Spirit Awards
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Beyoncé’s new album Renaissance has been out for about half a day now and people can’t stop fawning over it. Lil Nas X has some pretty intense thoughts about the LP and now Questlove, perhaps the most learned music historian/appreciator in the industry, has declared that Renaissance is something special.

In a post on Instagram, The Roots drummer gives the album a 4.5 out of 5 rating and writes, “I still maintain that a good 4 weeks has to go by before you give a rating. I definitely have walked back many a high rating album some 20 years after the fact. I listened 7 times. Which is 8 times more than the last time I listened to anyones record from start to finish. She definitely made her ‘Off The Wall’ with this one (dance album of the year———this being 2022 we can’t give her decade accolades but so far the mix, quality, etc are so dope. This will hold high in her cannon. Love the growth: made classics in her teens, her 20s her 30s & getting better.”

Off The Wall, of course, is Michael Jackson’s 1979 album that is widely considered one of the best music releases of all time, so comparing Beyoncé’s latest to it is a tremendously high honor and not something it seems Questlove would do without good reason.

Three Contentious Michael Jackson Songs Have Been Removed From Streaming By Sony

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13 years after his death, Michael Jackson’s legacy continues to be disputed, debated, and discussed by fans both old and new. Recently, a new twist was thrown into the discourse as Sony Music, which manages the rights to Jackson’s music, has removed three of his songs from streaming services. The three songs, “Breaking News,” “Keep Your Head Up,” and “Monster” featuring 50 Cent, all appear on the 2010 posthumous album Michael and have been subject to controversy for years.

The controversy stems from some fans’ belief that the songs do not feature Jackson’s vocals. Instead, they think that the songs were completed by a session singer, undermining the claim that the album consists of “previously unreleased vocal tracks performed by Michael Jackson.” In fact, one fan even sued Sony and Jackson’s estate over the contentious tracks, claiming they violated consumer laws and amounted to fraud. Vera Serova’s 2014 class-action lawsuit calls the three songs an “elaborate artistic fraud masterminded by co-defendants Eddie Cascio and James Porte.”

Some members of Jackson’s family have even weighed in on both sides. His mom Katherine and sister LaToya both maintained that the songs were either faked or didn’t sound like him, but a court eventually ruled that there was no case because of lack of evidence. It has since been appealed.

However, according to American Songwriter via Stereogum, the three tracks weren’t removed because of their doubted veracity, but because “the continuing conversation about the tracks is distracting the fan community and casual Michael Jackson listeners from focusing their attention where it should be: on Michael’s legendary and deep music catalog,” according to a statement from the estate.

Michael Jackson Once Turned Down A 2Pac Collab Because Of Loyalty To Biggie Smalls

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Michael Jackson

Quincy Jones III, the son of legendary producer Quincy Jones, revealed on BET’s oral history of The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, that Michael Jackson was supposed to feature on the album, but declined due to his relationship with Biggie Smalls.

The oral history was published earlier this month to coincide with what would have been Shakur’s 51st birthday. In the article, Quincy Jones III, also known as QD3, recalled that he had set up a meeting at Neverland Ranch to talk to Michael about featuring on 2Pac’s song, “Thug Passion,” which featured a sample from Jackson’s 1983 song “Human Nature.”

Michael said he couldn’t do the song because he “liked Biggie.”

“So I set up a meeting at Neverland. I go up there and told Michael about it. And do you know what Micheal said? He liked Biggie.”

MJ and Biggie Smalls had collaborated the year before on the song “This Time Around.”

“Thug Passion” ended up not being on The Don Killuminati, but would go on to be released on the 2000 Death Row compilation album, Too Gangsta For Radio.

Elsewhere, QD3 talked about 2Pac’s process when it came to making music.

“‘Pac would take all my beats including the ones I would never play for people,” QD3 said. “I learned a lesson that you gotta be spontaneous more and he taught me how to just think and just do it. ‘Pac would get irritated when you sat there and fiddled with sounds almost like you were disrespecting his time a little bit.”

He added: “I would say he was manic. There would be moments that called for quiet voice and candles and all that and he would be screaming and smoking Newports. He was on fire with this manic push. He was always pushing. You could tell he wasn’t comfortable in some way and there was something that was making him uncomfortable.”

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Michael Jackson Estate Accuses Latoya Jackson’s Ex-fiance of Robbing Jackson’s Estate Following His Death

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Michael Jackson

Almost exactly 13 years after his death, Michael Jackson‘s estate has accused Jeffre Phillips, the ex-fiance of the late singer’s sister LaToya Jackson, of stealing some of the singer’s personal effects following Jackson’s death in 2009.

Phillips was apparently staying at Jackson’s estate as a guest in 2009 when the singer died. He had reportedly been staying there for just over a week and stayed about the same amount of time after Jackson’s death. Phillips allegedly stole many of Jackson’s personal effects including his iPhone, clothes, driver’s license, prescription pills, handwritten letters, electronics including video cameras, computers, laptops, and hard drives, as well as a briefcase that contained some of Jackson’s personal and business paperwork. He allegedly also stole the pajamas that Jackson was wearing at the time of his death.

Phillips was dating LaToya Jackson at the time although the pair did not get engaged until 2013. They broke up in 2015.

So far, it does not appear that formal charges have been filed against Phillips.

The post Michael Jackson Estate Accuses Latoya Jackson’s Ex-fiance of Robbing Jackson’s Estate Following His Death appeared first on The Source.

Chris Brown Pays Homage To Michael Jackson Amid Comparison Rumors

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Chris Brown

In a recent interview, Chris Brown shot down comparisons to Michael Jackson. Instead, he paid the utmost respect to the late king of pop. In recent years, the debate over who’s the best between Michael Jackson and Chris Brown has heated up. Brown recently appeared on the radio show Big Boy’s Neighborhood and put the […]

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Newly Unearthed Footage Of Jay-Z’s Iconic 2001 Summer Jam Set Includes A Michael Jackson Cameo

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Months before the release of his critically acclaimed album, The Blueprint in 2001, Jay-Z performed a memorable set at the annual Hot 97 Summer Jam. For over two decades, Jay-Z‘s hour-long set has remained one of the hip-hop festival’s most iconic moments, footage has proven difficult to find.

Until yesterday, when Jay’s set resurfaced via a YouTube account called HipHopVCR.

The set consists of Jay performing several of his hits and debuting new tracks. He performed “Takeover,” a response to Nas’ scathing diss track “Ether.” “Takeover” was produced by Kanye West, who, at the time, was relatively unknown. “Takeover” was targeted at both Nas and Mobb Deep, particularly one-half of Mobb Deep, late rapper Prodigy. During the performance, Jay broadcast a photo of a young Prodigy in dance classes on the jumbotron.

Later on in the set, Jay brought out Michael Jackson. Though the two didn’t perform together, Jackson can be seen blowing kisses and tossing peace signs to a roaring crowd.

Jay would later collaborate with MJ on Blueprint cut “Girls, Girls, Girls,” on which, Jay claims Jackson sang background vocals, despite not appearing in the song’s credits. In 2010, a song called “(I Can’t Make It) Another Day appeared on Jackson’s posthumous album, Michael. The track was originally written as a collaboration between Jackson and Lenny Kravitz for Jackson’s 2001 album Invincible, but did not make the final tracklist. It was later rewritten and recorded as “Storm” and included on Kravitz’s 2004 album Baptism, as a collaboration between Jay and Kravitz.

Though footage of the Summer Jam set has remained scarce over the years, the performance has been held to high regard in the realm of hip-hop. Jay would reference the performance in a remix of Jeezy’s 2008 hit, “Put On,” rapping, “I put Mike Jack on stage at Summer Jam, Billie Jean / I put Prodigy in his place on that Summer Jam screen.”

Check out the full Summer Jam set above.

[WATCH] Never Before Seen Footage Of Jay-Z Bringing Out Michael Jackson During 2001 Summer Jam

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One of the biggest music performance occurrences in history is Jay-Z announcing the presence of The King Of Pop Michel Jackson at HOT 97’s annual Summer jam in 2001. Video footage of that performance that has never been seen in over two decades has now surfaced showing the Hip Hop introducing the pop culture icon onstage at the Long Island, NY concert.

The footage shows the moment that Hov brought MJ onstage and how The King received the love and support from the fans. This is also the same Summer Jam that sparked the highly publicized Nas vs. Jay-Z beef on wax.

See the footage below.

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