Mary Jane Blige is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and "Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Awards, twelve NAACP Image Awards, and twelve Billboard Music Awards, including the Billboard Icon Award. She has been nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and two Academy Awards, including one for her supporting role in the film Mudbound (2017) and another for its original song "Mighty River", becoming the first person nominated for acting and songwriting in the same year.
Angela Martinez is an American radio personality, podcaster, entrepreneur, former rapper, and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice of New York", she was prominently known for her twenty-eight year run at New York City station Hot 97 (WQHT). She left the station in 2014 to join crosstown competitor Power 105.1 (WWPR).
Erick Sermon is an American rapper and producer. He is best known as one-third—alongside PMD & DJ Scratch—of 1980s/1990s hip hop group EPMD and for his production work.
Kasseem Daoud Dean, known professionally as Swizz Beatz, is an American record producer, rapper, disc jockey (DJ) and songwriter. Born and raised in the Bronx borough of New York City, Dean initially embarked on his musical career as a DJ. At the age of eighteen, he gained recognition in the music industry through his family's record label Ruff Ryders Entertainment, as well as his close affiliation with the label's flagship artist, Yonkers-based rapper DMX. Working with DMX as his producer, DJ and hype man helped Dean gain prominence as a high-profile personality in hip hop in the following years.
Share My World is the third studio album by American R&B singer Mary J. Blige, released by MCA on April 22, 1997. The album became Blige's first to open at number one on the US Billboard 200 album chart. Moreover, it is her first album where she serves as an executive producer, alongside Steve Stoute, who also shared executive producer credits on the album.
Pandora is a subscription-based music streaming service owned by Sirius XM Holdings based in Oakland, California, United States. The service carries a focus on recommendations based on the "Music Genome Project"—a means of classifying individual songs by musical traits. The service originally launched in the consumer market as an internet radio service, which would generate personalized channels based on these traits and songs liked by the user; this service is available in an advertising-supported tier, and a subscription-based version. In 2017, the service launched Pandora Premium, an on-demand version of the service more in line with contemporary competitors.
My Life is the second album by American R&B recording artist Mary J. Blige, released on November 29, 1994, by Uptown Records and MCA Records. Many of the topics on My Life deal with clinical depression, Blige's battling with both drugs and alcohol, as well as being in an abusive relationship. Unlike her debut, What's the 411? (1992), Blige contributed lyrics to fourteen of the album's tracks, making it her most introspective and personal album at the time. Similar to her debut album, My Life features extensive production from Sean "Puffy" Combs for his newly founded label, Bad Boy Entertainment, which was at the time backed by Arista Records.
"Just Fine" is a song by the American singer Mary J. Blige. It was written by Blige, Terius "The-Dream" Nash, Jazze Pha and Tricky Stewart for her eighth studio album, Growing Pains (2007), while production was helmed by Pha and Stewart. It was released as the album's lead single on October 16, 2007. The song peaked at number 22 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 16 on the UK Singles Chart, while also topping the US Hot Dance Club Play chart.
In sound and music, sampling is the reuse of a portion of a sound recording in another recording. Samples may comprise elements such as rhythm, melody, speech, sound effects or longer portions of music, and may be layered, equalized, sped up or slowed down, repitched, looped, or otherwise manipulated. They are usually integrated using electronic music instruments (samplers) or software such as digital audio workstations.
Spotify is a Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 590 million monthly active users, including 226 million paying subscribers, as of September 2023. Spotify is listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American depositary receipts.
Loopmasters is a sample, MIDI file and preset distributor founded in 2003.
SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming services in the world and is available in 190 countries and territories. The service has more than 76 million active monthly users and over 200 million audio tracks as of November 2021. SoundCloud offers both free and paid memberships on the platform, available for mobile, desktop and Xbox devices. SoundCloud has evolved from a traditional online streaming platform to an entertainment company.
Splice is a cloud-based music creation platform founded by Matt Aimonetti and Steve Martocci which includes a sample library, audio plug-ins on a subscription basis, and integration with several digital audio workstations (DAWs). The program is available for MacOS, Windows, iOS and Android.
Adam King Feeney, better known as Ging and by his former stage name Frank Dukes, is a Canadian musician, record producer, and songwriter. A prolific producer, he has worked with artists including Lorde for Melodrama, Camila Cabello, Post Malone and The Weeknd. Following a two decade production career, he retired as Frank Dukes in 2021 to pursue his own music and art as Ging; he released his debut solo album We're Here, My Dear in 2022.
"For Free" is a song by American musician DJ Khaled featuring Canadian rapper Drake. It was released on June 3, 2016 by We the Best Music Group and Epic Records as the lead single from DJ Khaled's ninth studio album, Major Key. The song was produced by Nineteen85 and Jordan Ullman with co-production from Frankie Cutlass. The song was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on May 31, 2017, for selling over two million copies in the United States.
Brockhampton was an American hip hop boy band founded in 2010 as AliveSinceForever in San Marcos, Texas. Led by Kevin Abstract and formed partially through online music discussion forum KanyeToThe, Brockhampton was a self-described "boy band", so-called in an effort to redefine the term. Complex magazine describes the group as "gay, black, white, DIY, ambitious, all-inclusive, and would-be pop stars," and this diversity is what largely distinguishes their lyrics and sound. The group's final line-up consisted of vocalists Kevin Abstract, Matt Champion, Merlyn Wood, and Dom McLennon, vocalists/producers Joba, Bearface, and Jabari Manwa and producers Romil Hemnani and Kiko Merley, as well as graphic designer Henock "HK" Sileshi, photographer Ashlan Grey, web designer Roberto Ontenient, and manager Jon Nunes.
Father of Asahd is the eleventh studio album by American hip hop producer DJ Khaled. It was released on May 17, 2019, through We the Best Music and Epic Records. It features the singles "Top Off" and "No Brainer" along with collaborations with Cardi B, 21 Savage and Meek Mill. On May 16, DJ Khaled revealed the track listing and features, as well as that the music videos for "Higher", "Just Us", "Celebrate", "Jealous" and "Holy Mountain" would be released throughout the day of May 17, followed by the video for "You Stay" on May 18, and "Wish Wish" and "Weather the Storm" on May 20. DJ Khaled scored his third career Grammy nomination with "Higher" which won the Best Rap/Sung Performance at the 62nd Grammy Awards.
"Sugar" is a song by American boy band Brockhampton from their fifth studio album, Ginger (2019). The song features guest vocals from Ryan Beatty. It was written by Matthew Champion, Ciarán McDonald, Dominique Simpson, Ian Simpson, Beatty, Jabari Manwarring, Romil Hemnani, and Chuks Chiejine, while the production was handled by Jabari Manwa and Romil Hemnani. The song impacted contemporary hit radio formats in the United States on November 19, 2019, as the album's fifth single, before being released globally on December 13, through Question Everything and RCA Records. It is a hip hop, pop, and R&B slow jam, driven by an acoustic guitar loop. Lyrically, the themes include drug abuse, codependency, and the stress of uncertainty.
Crybaby is the fourth mixtape by American rapper Lil Peep. It was released on June 10, 2016 independently and later posthumously re-released to streaming platforms on June 10, 2020 by AUTNMY via AWAL with 10 of the original 11 tracks.
BeatStars is a global subscription-based music licensing platform where recording artists and producers collaborate, license and distribute their work to multiple parties through a variety of non-exclusive and exclusive license types. Founder Abe Batshon formed the BeatStars model to make his own music before launching it as a business in 2008
