Mary J. Blige

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The Big Hurt: This week in brand synergy

Blige, Bieber, and Sears connect the dots
Uh oh, it appears I don't have anything important to make fun of — I was really counting on a member of Aerosmith's dying right before my deadline or something, but no such luck. Let's mine the press-release pile for some fresh squareness.
By DAVID THORPE | August 10, 2010

Billboard's Rap Songs chart

The Big Hurt: Who charted?
In the immortal words of O.D.B., "Rappenin' is what's happenin'."
By DAVID THORPE | July 05, 2010

The Big Hurt: Billboard Top Hip-Hop and R and B songs

Who charted?
This week, a jolly traipse through one of Billboard 's most artistically fecund charts: "Top Hip-Hop and R&B Songs." What wonders await?
By DAVID THORPE | January 26, 2010

New edition

Masspike Miles, Lisa Bello, and the little R&B scene that can
There’s no underground scene for pop-minded R&B. Not in Boston, and not really anyplace else.
By CHRIS FARAONE | December 09, 2009

Review: KRS-One and Buckshot | Survival Skills

Duck Down (2009)
Duck Down (2009)
By CHRIS FARAONE | September 22, 2009

Review: Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All by Myself

Tyler Perry's latest is not so bad at all, really
Tyler Perry's latest crackles with electricity, thanks to heaps of boffo acting talent, high-octane musical interludes, and the most easy-to-root-for electrocution scene since Ernest Goes to Jail.
By SHAULA CLARK | September 16, 2009

Review: Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All by Myself

He's not a doctor . . .

. . . but he plays with one in LA. As hip-hop's newest secret weapon, Dawaun Parker is helping resuscitate rap's biggest stars.
Around this time four years ago, contemporary hip-hop tastemaker Dawaun Parker faced the same dilemma that most soon-to-be music-school grads negotiate: should he become a performer, a songwriter, or a barista?
By CHRIS FARAONE | May 18, 2009

Review: Musiq Soulchild | Onmyradio

Lukewarm-Lanta
Atlantic (2008)
By MIKAEL WOOD | December 15, 2008

Fight song

Letters to the Boston editor, July 25, 2008
Your total inability to recognize deserving candidates has me . . . amused?
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | July 23, 2008

Boondocks + Pore + Juba

Music seen at Empire Dine and Dance, June 27, 2008
Anyone in their late 20s and early 30s can appreciate what a golden era the ’90s were for hip-hop, R&B, and dancehall.
By SONYA TOMLINSON | July 02, 2008

Lil Mama

VYP: Voice of the Young People | Jive
There must be a name for the phenomenon of a child actor aging too quickly on the set of a film, right?
By DANIEL BROCKMAN | May 06, 2008

9th Wonder and Buckshot

The Formula | Duckdown
Although the term is often bandied about, 9th Wonder has become a true super-producer in recent years.
By BEN WESTHOFF | April 22, 2008

Flashy mob

Guerrilla Queer Bar takes over
Boston’s gay nightlife is usually balkanized into segregated enclaves for twinks, bears, lesbians, and drag queens.
By JULIA REISCHEL | April 08, 2008

Going on sale: February 15, 2008

Breaking news from the concert ticket trade
The Kills, Cloud Cult, Jay-Z, and more.
By GOING ON SALE | February 13, 2008

The ‘x’ factor

The roots pedigree of Boston’s Mystix
The Mystix want you to know they’re not fortune tellers.
By TED DROZDOWSKI | November 06, 2007

Chairmen of the boards

Our critics pick the 14 producers with the fattest, meanest beats
Not unlike Swedish, Tagalog, and Esperanto, music is a language, with its own conjugations and (lewdly) dangling participles.
By PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | October 18, 2007

Boston music news: November 3, 2006

Notes on the Rock and Art Auction
Drop a 10-spot, walk into the Opera House this Wednesday at 7:30 pm, and you’ll find almost the entire line-up of headliners that played Bank of America Pavilion last summer.
By JIM SULLIVAN | October 31, 2006

On the racks: October 17, 2006

Diddy, Danzig, and Badly Drawn Boy
Plus the Slits, Sarah McLachlan, and holiday fare.
By MATT ASHARE | October 17, 2006

On the racks: September 26, 2006

Tori Amos, the Lemonheads, Janet Jackson
...plus Ludacris, Alan Jackson, and Scissor Sisters.
By MATT ASHARE | September 26, 2006

Forward into the past!

Oldies and more in the season’s CD releases
Could it be just a coincidence that as I sit here writing this, a grizzled Bob Seger is gearing up for the release of Face the Promise , the Detroit rocker’s first proper studio album in, oh, forever and a day? The Lemonheads, "No Backbone" (mp3)
By MATT ASHARE | September 14, 2006