Nine Inch Nails Doesn't Need The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, They Have Dance Party USA.

Posted on by

Didn't Trent always seem incredibly intimidating? Maybe he is or maybe he was… but the man sounds like a GOD DAMN DELIGHT, in this new Q&A with Stereogum. 

The discussion covers a myriad of topics, including scoring films and TV, NIN's latest album, the decision to do an intimate tour, and (headlining-ly) the zero f*cks given regarding The RnR Hall Of Fame snub.

As for the brilliance that is their Dance Party USA appearance?

"[Laughs] Yeah, very well. You have to remember, we were at zero. We were from Cleveland and we were on big powerful TVT Records right? I think "Down In It" had come out, we're in New York, and we're friends with our publicist and she's like, "Hey, are there any TV shows that you guys wanna do?" And I remember we had watched that show 'cause it was so fuckin' stupid, right? And I said "Yeah, fuckin' Dance Party USA, get us on that one." As a joke, kind of. And then she says the next day, or shortly thereafter, "Hey, I got you on Dance Party USA, it films over in New Jersey, you wanna do it?" “F*ck yeah, let's do it!" Not thinking that 30 years later ... But when we got there, we didn't take it seriously, it was so absurd and people looked ridiculous. Even at the time, they looked ridiculous. We looked ridiculous. But I remember trying not to laugh while we were doing it. We were just trying to make it another month in our career."
See? Delightful!

CMT Artists of the Year

Posted on by

There’s been a lot of talk over the last – oh, let’s say two decades or so, about how women in country music are not being fairly represented on the radio. “Women don’t want to hear women,” we’re told over and over, even though there’s lots of evidence that it isn’t true.

That’s why it was so important for CMT to recognize some of them in its annual Artists of the Year special – all of the honorees were women. Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Maren Morris, Kelsea Ballerini, Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott, and Little Big Town’s Kimberly Schlapman and Karen Fairchild were recognized for their contributions to the format, and Loretta Lynn was given the Artist of a Lifetime award.

In her acceptance speech, Miranda talked about the importance of women lifting each other up.

Hillary, who accepted her award from her Lady A bandmates Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood, talked about teaching her girls about chasing their dreams. (And this is how I also found out I’ve been pronouncing her daughter Eisele’s name wrong)

Maren’s speech started with the disbelief that Sheryl Crow handed her the award, and how inspired she is by her fellow honorees.

Kelsea talked about the gift of the women who’ve inspired and taught her who have also shared their stages with her and helped her, and the importance of supporting one another.

Little Big Town’s Jimi and Phillip were the ones to give awards their bandmates Karen and Kimberly, who promised to be Gladys Knight’s backup singers in heaven. And they talked about how important this night was for women, and listed a LOT of the up-and-coming women in country music who also deserve support.

Sadly, Loretta Lynn was sick and couldn’t make it to the show, but her good friend Sissy Spacek, who played her in Coal Miner’s Daughter, and who was already set to do the honors, accepted the award on her behalf, and to a standing ovation.

If you missed the show, it will air again on CMT, or you can watch the whole thing on their website. It’s worth the time – these women rock (in a country way)!

Pardi Fontaine Celebrates Path To Success At BET Hip-Hop Awards

Posted on by

Pardi’s party with Cardi. Newburgh, NY’s own Pardison Fontaine made his stage performance last night at the BET Hip-Hop Awards in grand fashion, joining collaborator/superstar Cardi B to perform their new single “Backin’ It Up."

Fontaine collaborated heavily via his pen on Cardi’s "Invasion Of Privacy," and the two are carrying the momentum over on Pardison’s club banger.

“Sleeping in the studio, sleeping on the couch,” Pardi reminisced on the BET green carpet award show in Miami. “I’m out here. 10 million views later. On the carpet. I made it to the carpet.”

And on that carpet, Fontaine ran into fellow New Yorkers, Dream Doll and producer/ DJ/ label CEO DJ Self. Dream has aspirations of getting from the carpet to the stage to collect some awards.

“I ain’t gonna know how to act. Turn the f--k up!l" Dream said of her reaction whenever she earns her first award. “Live my best life.”

Dream isn’t nominated this year but she did just drop her project Life in Plastic 2.

Fontaine did hit that stage, though, joining a long list of fan favorite performers at this year’s BET Hip-Hop Awards, including T.I., Lil Duval, Lil Pump, Lil Baby, Gunna, Gucci Mane and Young M.A.

Nick Grant’s Cypher Steals The Show At The BET Hip-Hop Awards

Posted on by

People are still talking about Nick Grant’s rhymes from the Bet Hip-Hop Awards last night. Grant, who’s known as a lyrical-specialist, threw verbal fire at the screen professing “I'm a mixture of good karma and bad advice.” And later he declared “I'm just realer than n****s I admire.”

On the green carpet, Grant spoke about his drive to contribute music to the culture.

“I just learn from the greats,” he offered. “I'm cut from a certain cloth where people would record 10 songs in one night. Passionate, havng the love for it.  I feel like if I didn’t make any money off this, I would still this do this. I would work my nine to five and come home and still write raps.”

Many of the MCs who inspire Grant dropped albums this year. The young poet is excited to see so many veterans such as Eminem and Lil Wayne all put out product in the same year. When asked who delivered the best word play this year, he gave us his list.

“My top Five lyricist 2018, myself, Royce Da 5’9. Nas, Jay-Z of course. J. Cole... I’m just going off of everybody who dropped albums. My top five albums of 2018, Nasir, Daytona, the Pusha T album was dope. KOD of course. I was very huge on this August Green album. I thought that was incredible and my album, 'Dreamin’ Out Loud.'"

The Award show included a slew of hot performances, including Lil Duval, Ball Greezy, T.I., Yo Gotti, Gucci Mane, Cardi B, Partison Fontaine and newcomer Flipp Dinero. Lil Wayne was honored with the “I Am Hip-Hop” award.

“This is somebody that taught me how to write raps different ways,” Grant, a South Carolina native, said about Weezy’s influence on a generation of rappers. “Somebody that inspired me infinitely. Everything we see today with all these artist, he a piece of everything. He deserves it.”